B  H  S7b  oqa 


Wf}t  ^nnalg  of 

THE  AMERICAN  ACADEMY  OF  POLITICAL 
AND  SOCIAL  SCIENCE 

VolLXXIV  NOVEMBER   1917  WkoU  No.  163 


The 

World's  Food 


Issued  Bi-Monlhly  by  the  American  Academy  of  Political  and  Social   Science  at  Concord, 
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THE  WORLD'S  FOOD 


triie  Annals; 


Volume  LXXIV 


November,  1917 


Editor  in  Charge  of  this  Volume: 
CLYDE  L.  KING 


The  American  Academy  of  Political  and  Social  Science 
"  .^rTH  AND  Woodland  Avenue 

Philadelphia 
1917 


^'^ 


^oo^ 


Copyright,  1917,  by 

American  Academy  of  Political  and  Social  Science 

All  rights  reserved 


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England  :  P.  S.  King  &  Son,  Ltd.,  2  Great  Smith  Street,  Westminster,  London,  S.  W . 
France:  L.  Larosc,  Rue  Soufflot,  22,  Paris. 

Germany:  Mayor  &  Miiiler,  2  Prinz  Louis  Ferdinandstrasse,  Berlin,  N.  W. 
Italy:  Giornale  Degli  Economisti,  via  Monte  Savello,  Palazzo Orsini,  Rome. 
Spain:  E.  Dossat,  9  Plaza  de  Santa  Ana,  Madrid. 


CONTENTS 

Page 

FOREWORD vii 

Clyde  L.  King,  Editor. 

PART  I— THE   WORLD'S  FOOD 

A.  Introductory 

TH:E  WORLD'S    FOOD    SUPPLY 1 

G.  B.  Roorbach,  Assistant  Professor  of  Geography,  University  of  Penn- 
sylvania. 

INTERNATIONAL  RATIONING 34 

Burvvell  S.  Cutler,  Acting  Chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Foreign  and  Domestic 
Commerce,  United  States  Department  of  Commerce. 

B.  The  Food  Situation  urith  the  Neutrals 

INTRODUCTORY 43 

Carl  P.  Hiibscher,  Secretary  of  Swiss  Legation,  Washington,  D.  C. 

THE    FOOD   SITUATION    OF    NORWAY 44 

Fridtjof  Nansen,  D.Sc,  D.C.L.,  Minister  Plenipotentiary  of  Norway  on 
Special  Mission. 

SOUTH   AMERICA'S   AVAILABLE   FOOD   SUPPLY 53 

His  Excellency,  Senor  Don  Ignacio  Calderon,  The  Bolivian  Minister. 

SWEDEN'S  FOOD   SUPPLY ! 57 

Hon.  Axel  Robert  NordvaU,  Delegate  of  the  Royal  Swedish  Government. 

SWITZERLAND   AND   THE  AMERICAN   FOOD   SUPPLY 66 

William  E.  Rappard,  Professor  at  the  University  of  Geneva,  Switzer- 
land, formerly  of  Harvard  University;  Member  of  the  International 
Red  Cross  Committee;  Member  of  the  Swiss  Mission  to  the  United 
States. 

THE   CASE   FOR   HOLLAND 74 

A.  G.  A.  Van  Eelde,  Member  of  the  Netherlands  Mission  to  the  United 

States. 

C.  Food  for  the  Allies 

INTRODUCTORY 79 

The  Honorable  Roland  S.  Morris,  American  Ambassador  to  Japan. 

HOW  JAPAN   MEETS   ITS  FOOD   PROBLEM 81 

His  Excellency,  Viscount  Kikujiro  Ishii,  Ambassador  of  Japan  on  Special 

Mission. 

FOOD  FOR  FRANCE  AND  ITS  PUBLIC  CONTROL 84 

FranQois  Monod,  "Chef  de  Cabinet"  to  the  French  High  Commissioner 
in  the  United  States. 


369705 


iv  Contents 

THte   FOOD   PltOBLEM   OF   GREAT   BRITAIN;   THE   SHIPPING 

PROBLEM   OF  THE   WORLD 91 

Arthur  Pollen,  Esq.,  London,  England. 

PART  II— FOOD   UTILIZATION  AND  CONSERVATION 

A.  A  Basis  for  Individual  and  A'ational  Diets 

SOME  ESSENTIALS  TO  A  SAFE   DIET 95 

E.  V.  McCoUum,  School  of  Hj^giene  and  Public  Health,  Johns  Hopkins 
University. 

DIETARY  HABITS   AND   THEIR   IMPROVEMENT 103 

H.  R.  M.  Landis,  M.D.,  Director  of  Clinical  and  Sociological  Depart- 
ments, Phipps  Institute. 

A   GUIDE   TO   THE   NATION'S   DIETARY   NEEDS 108 

Helen  W.  Atwater,  Specialist  in  House  Economics,  States  Relations 
Service,  United  States  Department  of  Agriculture. 

B.  Food  Conservation  and  Utilization. 

SOME    FACTS   TO    BE    CONSIDERED  IN  CONNECTION   WITH 

THE   FOOD   PROBLEM 119 

Howard  Heinz,  Chairman  of  Committee  on  Food  Supply,  Committee 
of  Public  Safety  of  Pennsylvania. 

THE   HOUSEKEEPER   AND   THE   FOOD   PROBLEM 123 

Charlotte  Perkins  Oilman,  Author  and  Lecturer,  New  York  City. 

THE  RELATION  OF  THE  HOUSEWIFE  TO  THE  FOOD  PROBLEM .  .     130 
Nevada  Davis  Hitchcock,  Instructor  in  Marketing,  Temple  University, 
Philadelphia. 

FOOD  CONSERVATION   IN   NEW  YORK   CITY 140 

Lucius  P.  Brown,  Director,  Bureau  of  Food  and  Drugs,  Department  of 
Health,  New  York  City. 

ACCOMPLISHMENTS  OF  BOYS'  AND  GIRLS'  CLUBS  IN  FOOD 

PRODUCTION    AND    CONSERVATION 147 

D.  H.  Benson,  United  States  Department  of  Agriculture,  Washing- 
ton, D.  C. 

THE  WORK  CONDUCTED  BY  THE  COMMERCIAL  CANNERS 

OF  THE  COUNTRY 157 

D.  Bigelow,  Chief  Chemist,  National  Canners'  Association. 

PART  III— PRODUCTION   AND    MARKETING    PLANS   FOR 
NEXT  YEAR 

PRODUCTION   AND   MARKETING   PLANS   FOR   NEXT  YEAR  .     164 
Charles  J.  Brand,  Chief,  Bureau  of  Markets,  United  States  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture. 


Contents  v 

AN   AGRICULTURAL   POLICY   FOR  THE   UNITED    STATES    IN 

WAR   TIME 181 

Gifford  Pinchot,  President  of  the  Pennsylvania  Rural  Progress  Associa- 
tion. 

THE  IMPORTANCE  OF  MILK  AS  A  FOOD 188 

W.  H.  Jordan,  Director,  New  York  Agricultural  Experiment  Station. 

THE   SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF   THE  UNITED   STATES 191 

A.  C.  Bigelow,  President,  Philadelphia  Wool  and  Textile  Association. 

THE   WAR  AND  OUR   POTATO   INDUSTRY 197 

Lou   D.  Sweet,  Potato  Expert,  United  States  Food  Administration; 
President  of  the  Potato  Association  of  America. 

URBAN   AND   SUBURBAN  FOOD   PRODUCTION '. 203 

Charles  Lathrop  Pack,  President,  National  Emergency  Food  Garden 
Commission. 

THE  POINT  OF  ORIGIN   PLAN   FOR   MARKETING 206 

A.  B.  Ross,  Executive  Secretary,  Department  of  Food  Supply,  Com- 
mittee of  Public  Safety  of  Pennsylvania. 

LESSONS  IN   SOLVING    LABOR,    CREDIT    AND    OTHER    PRO- 
DUCTION PROBLEMS 210 

A.  E.  Grantham,  Professor  of  Agronomy,  Delaware  College. 

PART  IV— PRICE  CONTROL 

THE  NECESSITY  FOR  GOVERNMENT  REGULATION  OF  PRICES 

IN  WAR  TIME 224 

Charles  R.  Van  Hise,  President,  University  of  Wisconsin,  Madison. 

FOOD   PRICES  VS.   WAGE   INCREASES   IN   PHILADELPHIA  ...     235 
Raymond  T.  Bye,  A.  M.,  Instructor  in  Economics,  University  of  Penn- 
sylvania, and  Charles  Reitell,  Ph.D.,  Professor  of  Commerce,  Law- 
rence College. 
CONSTITUTIONALITY   OF   FEDERAL  REGULATION  OF  PRICES 

ON   FOOD  AND   FUELS 256 

Clifford  Thome,  Lawyer,  Chicago. 

WHAT  COOPERATION   CAN   DO   AND   IS   DOING   IN   LOWER- 
ING FOOD   COSTS 268 

Peter  Hamilton,  New  York  City. 

PRICE   CONTROL   THROUGH   INDUSTRIAL  ORGANIZATION  .  .     280 
J.  Russell  Smith,  Ph.D.,  Professor  of  Industry,  University  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. 

PRICE   CONTROL 288 

Joseph  E.  Davies,  Federal  Trade  Commission. 

BOOK  DEPARTMENT 294 

INDEX 306 


vi  Contents 


BOOK   DEPARTMENT 

THE    BUSINESS    MAN'S    LIBRARY 

Cherington — The  Wool  Industry  (M.  Keir) 298 

Church — Manufacturing  Costs  and  Accounts  (A.  T.  Cameron) 294 

Davis — Essaijs  in  the  Early  History  of  American  Corporations  (E.  R.  Johnson)  299 

Farrar — The  Typography  of  Advertisements  That  Pay  (J.  W.  Piercy) 295 

Gephart — Principles  of  Insurance  (R.  Riegel) 296 

Montague — Business  Competition  and  the  Law  (F.  Parker) 295 

Rhodes — Workmen's  Compensation  (R.  H.  Blanchard) 297 

Stevens — Unfair  Competition  (F.  Parker) 295 

Victor — Canada's  Future  (P.  R.  Hayward) 299 

Webb — The  Restoration  of  Trade  Union  Conditions  (J.  T.  Young)  •. 297 

economics 

Mac  NuTT^-T^ie  Modern  Milk  Problem  (C.  L.  King) .  .  , 300 

NoURSE — Agricultural  Economics  (J.  L.  Coulter) 300 

Parker — City  Milk  Supply  (C.  L.  King) 300 

POLITICAL    SCIENCE 

Goldsmith — A  League  to  Enforce  Peace  (J.  W.  Garner) 301 

Sims — Ultimale  Democracy  and  Its  Making  (L.  P.  Fox) 301 

Thompson — Municipal  Ovmership  (B.  Marsh) 302 

sociology 

Abbott — The  Immigrant  and  the  Community  (C.  Kelsey) 302 

Bogen — Jewish  Philanthropy  (E.  Mayer) 303 

Ferri — Criminal  Sociology  (J.  P.  Lichtenberger) 303 

Simkhovitch — The  City  Worker's  World  (F.  Tyson) 304 

Smith — An  Introduction  to  Educational  Sociology  (J.  P.  Lichtenberger) ....  305 


FOREWORD 

This  volume  of  The  Annals  constitutes  the  Proceedings  of 
the  Conference  on  The  World's  Food  held  by  the  Academy  in 
Philadelphia  on  September  14  and  15,  1917.  The  Academy 
is  obligated  to  many  for  assistance  in  arranging  for  this  conference. 
Our  appreciation  is  particularly  due  to  the  many  governors,  mayors 
and  public  officials  who  appointed  delegates  to  the  conference,  for 
these  delegates  gave  to  the  conference  a  seriousness  of  purpose 
that  was  felt  by  those  who  addressed  the  conference  as  well  as  by 
those  who  attended  or  participated  in  the  discussions.  We  also 
gratefully  acknowledge  the  assistance  of  the  program  committee. 
The  following,  among  others,  were  particularly  helpful  in  planning 
the  program:  Charles  R.  Van  Hise,  Chairman,  Gifford  Pinchot, 
Irving  Fisher,  Alonzo  E.  Taylor,  Clarence  Sears  Kates,  Harry  Hay- 
ward,  Samuel  S.  Fels,  Mrs.  N.  D.  Hitchcock  and  M.  T.  Phillips. 

Clyde  L.   King,   Editor. 


THE  WORLD'S   FOOD   SUPPLY 

By  G.  B.  Roorbach, 
AsBifltant  Professor  of  Geography,  University  of  Pennsylvania. 

The  number  of  staple  foods  as  distinguished  from  the  luxuries 
that  constitute  the  world's  dietary  are  comparatively  few.  Many 
thousands  of  articles  make  up  man's  food,  but  a  few  form  his  chief 
dependence.  Standing  far  at  the  head  of  the  list  are  the  grains — 
rice,  wheat,  millet,  rye  and  barley.  Whether  measured  by  bulk 
of  production,  the  food  energy  they  contain,  or  the  amount  that 
enters  international  trade,  these  five  grains,  together  with  corn, 
oats  and  beans,  are  the  chief  food  dependence  of  man.  Sugar  occu- 
pies a  very  high  place  as  a  food  for  nearly  all  peoples.  Of  the  vege- 
tables, the  potato  is  exceedingly  important,  especially  in  the  west- 
ern world,  but,  although  very  great  in  bulk,  its  food  value  is  much 
less  than  the  grains  and  sugar.  Fruits  and  nuts  are  of  still  less 
importance  as  staple  articles  of  vegetable  diet.  Tea,  coffee  and 
cocoa  are  luxuries  rather  than  vital  elements  in  the  world's  food 
supply. 

Meat,  compared  with  vegetable  products,  stands  surprisingly 
low  in  food  value  and  in  importance  to  most  of  the  human  race. 
Over  one-half  of  the  people  of  the  earth  eat  very  little  meat.  Only 
in  new  countries,  where  land  is  cheap,  or  in  countries  like  those  of 
western  Europe  where  meats  and  animal  fodder  can  be  readily 
imported,  are  meat-producing  animals  so  abundant  that  they  are 
of  large  importance  as  a  food.  Even  in  this  latter  case,  the  con- 
sumption is  small  compared  to  countries  like  Argentina  or  the  United 
States,^  The  world  production  of  meat — beef,  pork  and  mutton — 
is  only  one-fifth  of  the  world's  tonnage  of  wheat,  and  the  food  value 
less  than  any  of  the  important  grains,  sugar  or  potatoes.  If  dairy 
products — milk,  butter  and  cheese — are  added  to  the  meat  prod- 
ucts, the  importance  of  animals  as  a  source  of  food  is  much  greater. 
The  money  value  of  dairy  products  in  the  United  States,  for  exam- 
ple, is  higher  than  the  money  value  of  the  edible  grains,  and  the 
energy  value  of  these  concentrated  foods  ranks  high.     With  the 

1  See  Figure  9,  p.  26. 

1 


L 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


The  World's  Food  Supply 


Table  I 


Value  of  Imports  and  Exports  op  Foodstuffs  and  Estimated  Value  of 
/  Production  for  Various  Countries  ^ 

Figures  are  in  millions  of  dollars 


Per  cent  production 

Country 

Imports 

Exports 

Production 

to  requirements 

United  Kingdom 

1,239 

200 

1,162 

53 

Belgium 

247 

79 

225 

57 

Germany 

698 

282 

2,932 

88 

France 

232 

109 

1,777 

93 

Austria-Hungary 

144 

115 

1,814 

98 

United  States 

562 

540 

5,334 

100 

Russia 

102 

452 

3,986 

110 

Canada 

72 

204 

710 

123 

Argentina 

17 

169 

469 

148 

exception,  however,  of  a  few  localities,  animal  foods  are  of  very 
much  less  importance  than  vegetables. 

The  bulk  of  the  world's  food  supply  is  produced  in  the  coun- 
tries in  which  it  is  consumed.  Large  as  is  the  international  trade 
in  food  products,  it  represents  but  a  small  proportion  of  the  food 
grown  and  consumed  at  home.  The  United  Kingdom  and  Bel- 
gium, which  are  usually  mentioned  as  the  countries  dependent  for 
food  upon  the  outside  world,  are  exceptions  to  the  rule.  Even 
these  countries  produced  in  the  pre-war  period  53  per  cent  and  57 
per  cent  respectively  of  their  own  requirements.^  Germany,  ac- 
cording to  the  same  estimates,  supplied  88  per  cent  of  her  require- 
ments, and  France  93  per  cent.  Sparsely  populated  Argentina, 
which  we  think  of  as  primarily  a  food  exporting  nation,  actually 
consumes  nearly  twice  as  much  as  she  exports.  The  United  States 
produces  more  than  ten  times  the.  value  of  her  exports  and,  most 
surprising  of  all,  food  importations  into  the  United  States,  meas- 
ured in  dollars,  are  slightly  greater  than  food  exportations.  In 
other  words,  the  United  States  is  scarcely  able  to  pay  for  imported 
foods  with  what  is  exported.  When  we  balance  accounts  we  find 
our  soils  are  supporting  only  our  own  population.     Russia,  which 

^Data  from  N.  C.  Murray  and  F.  Andrews:  Food  Production  and  Re- 
quirements of  Various  Countries.  Farmers'  Bulletin,  No.  641,  U.  S.  Dept.  of 
Agriculture. 

^lUd. 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


we  think  of  as  a  great  food  surplus  country,  has  a  paltry  10  per 
cent  surplus  left  for  exportation  after  her  own  requirements  are 
satisfied.  As  far  as  the  staple  foods  that  satisfy  the  hunger  of 
mankind  are  concerned,  the  world's  table  is  set  with  products  grown 
near  at  home. 


FIG.  2.     WORLD  PRODUCTION  OF  GRAINS  AND  POTATOES  IN  BUSHELS   1911-13 

AVERAGE. 

The  heavier  shaded  area  indicates  the  part  op  production  that  enters  international 

TRADE.     China  is  not  included. 

Although  the  grains  are  by  far  the  most  important  foods  that 
enter  world  trade,  only  a  small  proportion  of  the  crops  produced 
goes  beyond  the  borders  of  the  countries  in  which  they  were  grown. 
Figure  2  shows  that  wheat  and  barley  only  have  any  considerable 
percentage  of  export  as  compared  with  total  production,  amounting 
to  about  20  per  cent  in  each  case.  The  proportions  of  vegetables 
exported  are  insignificant  when  compared  with  production. 

Sources  of  World  Food 

The  principal  food  producing  countries,  as  well  as  the  consum- 
ing countries,  are  in  the  temperate  zones.  The  tropics,  containing 
one-third  of  the  land  area  of  the  globe,  are  barely  able  to  support 
one-third  of  the  world  population.  The  north  temperate  zone,  com- 
prising nearly  one-half  of  the  land  area,  contains  almost  two-tliirds 


The  World's  Food  Supply  6 

of  the  population.  If  we  except  coffee,  cacao,  and  about  one-half 
of  the  world's  tea — luxuries  rather  than  foods — only  two  crops  of 
large  importance  for  the  outside  world  are  supplied  by  the  tropics: 
rice  and  sugar.  In  the  case  of  rice,  some  of  the  largest  producing 
countries,  China,  Japan,  Italy  and  the  United  States,  are  in  the 
temperate  zone  and  the  cane  sugar  of  the  tropics  makes  up  only 
a  little  over  half  of  the  total  sugar  production.  Tropic  fruits, 
especially  the  banana,  are  important  food  exports  in  a  few  favored 
localities.  But  aside  from  these  three  crops,  the  tropics  are  not 
producing  any  important  food  surpluses  for  a  hungry  world.  The 
wonderful  food  producing  ability  of  the  tropics  is  potential,  not 
developed.  They  may  be  the  producers  of  the  food  surplus  of  the 
future,  but  they  are  not  important  sources  today. 

Many  tropical  countries  are  not  feeding  themselves,-  but  are 
dependent  upon  the  temperate  zone.  Brazil,  for  example,  is  a 
large  importer  of  wheat;  Cuba  is  one  of  .the  largest  meat  import- 
ing countries.  Even  rice  in  large  quantities  is  imported  for  con- 
sumption into  Java,  the  Philippines,  the  Straits  Settlements  and 
the  American  tropics.  India  is  one  of  the  largest  sugar  importing 
countries.  The  only  sections  of  the  tropics  that  today  are  at  all 
important  in  supplying  food  products  are:  (1)  Indo-China,  Siam 
and  Burma,  which  are  all  exporters  of  rice.  Most  of  this  crop  goes 
to  other  tropical  countries,  however,  and  in  these  days  of  few  ships 
the  great  distance  of  these  lands  from  Europe  and  America  is  a 
serious  handicap  to  fully  utiUzing  these  suppHes;  (2)  Java,  Cuba, 
Porto  Rico  and  other  West  Indian  Islands,  Hawaii  and  some  other 
tropical  lands  which  supply  most  of  the  cane  sugar  of  exports;  (3) 
West  Indies  and  Central  America,  which  send  much  fruit,  especially 
bananas,  to  the  temperate  zones.  The  shortage  of  food  has  stimu- 
lated production  in  the  tropics,  especially  of  sugar,  to  a  certain 
extent,  but  a  rapid  extension  of  agriculture,  at  all  commensurate 
with  the  present  needs,  is  impossible.  The  task  is  one  requiring 
a  period  generations  long,  not  years  long,  and  is  dependent  upon 
the  whole  big  question  of  making  the  tropics  habitable  and  effi- 
cient; not  one  to  be  solved  to  meet  the  emergencies  of  a  world  war. 

It  is  in  the  north  temperate  zone  that  we  find  not  only  the 
greatest  food  needs  but  also  the  largest  production  of  today.  Meas- 
ured by  production  two  of  the  most  important  agricultural  regions 
of  the  world  are  eastern  China  and  Japan,  and  central  and  West- 


6  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

ern  Europe.  The  first  of  these  two  regions  practically  supports 
its  own  enormous  population;  the  second  region,  in  spite  of  its 
enormous  production,  needs  to  import  the  deficiency  in  the  sup- 
plies and  this  import  comes  largely  from  other,  but  less  densely 
inhabited,  sections  of  the  north  temperate  zone,  chiefly  the  United 
States,  Canada  and  Russia,  and  from  the  sparsely  settled  lands  of 
the  south  temperate  zone,  chiefly  Argentine  and  Australasia.  The 
wheat  exporting  section  of  India  also  lies  north  of  the  Tropic  of 
Cancer. 

The  south  temperate  zone,  containing  a  land  area  only  one- 
third  larger  than  the  United  States  and  with  a  total  population  of 
but  20,000,000  people,  can  produce  the  kind  of  food  demanded  by 
the  people  of  the  north  temperate  zone.  Ai-gentina  and  Uruguay, 
Australasia  and  South  Africa  are  suited  by  climate  and  soil  to 
produce  grains  and  animals,  and  with  a  small  population  to  con- 
sume them,  they  are  food  exporting  nations.  In  addition  to  the 
small  land  area  of  the  south  temperate  zone  there  are  several  seri- 
ous handicaps  to  large  food  production  in  this  zone:  (1)  much  of 
the  aheady  restricted  area  is  desert;  (2)  the  climate  of  the  more 
arable  areas  is  a  most  undependable  one,  shortages,  or  even  com- 
plete failures,  of  crops  in  Argentina  and  Australia  being  very  fre- 
quent; (3)  they  are  far  from  the  markets  and  the  bulky  grains  and 
meats  require  a  tonnage  that  the  world  in  this  time  of  war  can 
scarcely  spare  to  bring  them  to  the  shores  of  Europe.  The  unde- 
pendableness  of  Argentina's  climate  is  indicated  most  forcefully  by 
the  great  draught  of  last  year,  which,  in  the  world's  supreme  hour 
of  need,  made  that  country  almost  worthless  as  a  suppUer  of  wheat 
and  corn.  Even  to  a  greater  degree  does  Australia's  production  of 
grain  vary  through  wide  margins  with  its  exceedingly  capricious 
rainfall. 

The  World's  Grain  Supply 

Wheat.  Wheat  an.d  rice  are  rivals  as  sources  of  human  food. 
Rice,  however,  while  it  feeds  many  millions  of  people,  is  consumed 
almost  entirely  where  it  is  produced.  Wheat  is  the  great  staple 
food  export.  Corn,  which  equals  wheat  in  production,  is  largely 
used  for  animal  food  and  enters  world  commerce  only  to  a  slight 
extent.  Of  the  world  production  of  3,823  million  bushels  of  wheat 
(not  including  China),  considerably  over  half  is  grown  in  Europe. 
Russia  in  the  three  years'  average  preceding  the  war  led  the  world 


The  World's  Food  Supply      .  7 

in  production,  and  although  that  country  consumed  five-sixths  of 
what  was  produced,  enough  was  left  for  export  to  make  Russia  the 
leading  source  of  supply  for  western  Europe.  Roumania,  also, 
although  producing  but  88,000,000  bushels,  had  an  export  surplus 
of  54,000,000  bushels,  nearly  half  of  Russia's  export.  Bulgaria 
had  a  12,000,000  bushel  surplus  for  export.  Germany,  although 
an  exporter  of  wheat,  imported  three  times  her  export  and  there- 
fore cannot  be  regarded  as  a  wheat  surplus  country.  The  large 
production  of  wheat  in  Austria-Hungary  was  practically  all  con- 
sumed at  home.  Of  the  other  European  countries,  France,  Italy, 
Germany,  Spain  and  the  United  Kingdom  are  all  large  producers, 
but  production  is  less  than  needs.  Holland,  Belgium,  Switzerland 
and  the  Scandanavian  countries  largely  depend  upon  importations 
for  wheat.  Four  countries.  United  Kingdom,  Germany,  Italy  and 
France,  took  60  per  cent  of  the  world's  imported  wheat,  the  United 
Kingdom  alone  importing  221,000,000  bushels  on  the  average  each 
year,  or  30  per  cent  of  the  total  world  importation.  Brazil,  with  a 
wheat  importation  of  23,000,000  bushels,  is  the  only  country  out- 
side of  Europe  with  any  considerable  wheat  import.  The  supply 
of  wheat  for  the  importations  into  Europe,  aside  from  what  comes 
from  Russia  and  Roumania,  is  supplied  principally  by  the  United 
States,  Canada,  Argentina,  India  and  Australia.  These  seven 
countries  furnish  94  per  cent  of  the  world  export  of  wheat. 

Such  were  the  conditions  before  the  war.  What  is  the  state 
of  the  world  wheat  this  year? 

Russian  wheat  is  shut  off  from  the  outside  world  by  the  clos- 
ing of  the  Bosphorus,  and  hence  the  surplus  this  country  con- 
tributed to  the  world  is  not  available.  The  wheat  of  the  Balkans 
and  of  Turkey,  as  well  as  of  most  of  Roumania,  is  to  be  added  to 
the  supplies  of  the  Central  Powers.  There  is  no  means  of  knowing 
the  actual  conditions  of  the  wheat  crop  of  Germany  and  Austria- 
Hungary  this  year.  The  average  production  (1911-1913),  export 
and  import  of  the  countries  now  occupied  by  the  Central  Powers, 
in  millions  of  bushels  are  shown  in  Table  II.  By  including  Rou- 
mania, Poland  and  Belgium  we  see  that  before  the  war  the  lands 
now  in  control  of  the  Central  Powers  had  a  wheat  deficit  of 
54,000,000  bushels.  If  we  include  Turkey — both  Asiatic  and  Euro- 
pean— with  the  other  Balkan  States,  we  would  add  to  production 
about  55,000,000  bushels.     Considerable  of  this  was  available  for 


Thb  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


fi  ^ 


s     <- 


The  World*s  Food  Supply 


Table  II 

Wheat  Production, 

Export  and  Import 

OF  Leading 

Countries  * 

1911-1913  averages 

Countries  in  Control 

of  Central  Powers  • 

Production 

Export 

Import 

Germany 

160 

23 

01 

Austria  Hungary 

247 

1 

Bulgaria 

46 

12 

Roumania 

88 

54 

Belgium 

15 

21 

74 

Poland  (1912-1914) 

18 

Total — Central  Powers 

574 

111 

165 

Neutral  European 

Countries 

HoUand 

5 

64 

78 

Sweden 

8 

7 

Norway 

.3 

6 

Switzerland 

3 

20 

Spain 

123 

4 

Denmark  (1913  only) 

4 

7 

Total— Neutrals 

143.3 

64 

121 

Western  Allies 

United  Kingdom 

61 

221 

France 

324 

65 

Italy 

191 

59 

Portugal 

8 

2 

Greece 

7 

7 

Total— Allies 

591 

344 

Other  Countries 

Russia 

727 

128 

United  States 

705 

116 

India 

370 

60 

Canada 

229 

111 

Argentina 

156 

101 

Australia 

89 

62 

Algeria 

33 

6.5 

Tunis 

6 

1 

British  South  Africa 

6 

6 

Egypt 

33 

.. 

Brazil 

. , 

23 

Japan 

26 

3 

Total— World 

3,823 

767 

723 

Uri  millions  of  bushels.  Flour  is  reduced  to  wheat  equivalent.  The  blank 
spaces  indicate  no  import  or  export,  or  only  small  amounts  Data  for  this  and 
the  other  tables,  have  been  taken  from  the  Year  Books  of  the  United  States 
Department  of  Agriculture  and  from  Statistical  Notes  on  Production,  etc.  of 
Cereals,  published  by  the  International  Institute  of  Agriculture,  Rome. 


10  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

export,  and  possibly  would  be  capable  of  materially  reducing  the 
Central  Powers'  deficit  at  the  present  time.  The  neutral  nations 
bordering  the  Central  Powers  are  all  wheat  importing  nations,  and 
presumably  can  be  of  little  or  no  aid  in  supplying  this  grain.  But 
unless  the  Central  Powers  have  been  able  materially  to  increase 
wheat  production  in  the  face  of  increased  consumption  in  the  army, 
lack  of  skilled  man  power  for  the  farms,  shortage  of  fertilizer  and 
actual  destruction  by  the  acts  of  war,  the  supply  must  be  short  of 
actual  demands. 

With  the  exception  of  Spain,  the  neutral  countries,  largely  for 
climatic  reasons,  are  small  producers  and  therefore  largely  depend 
on  importations.  Neutral  imports  exceeded  neutral  exports  by 
67,000,000  bushels  in  the  average  for  the  period  1911-1913. 

The  western  aUies  were,  in  spite  of  large  wheat  production, 
the  chief  importers.  With  a  total  production  of  591,000,000  bush- 
els, there  is  practically  no  export,  and  344,000,000  bushels  of  import 
to  supply  the  needs.  The  wheat  importations  necessary  therefore 
to  supply  the  deficit  of  the  European  countries,  excluding  Russia, 
before  the  war,  were  465,000,000  bushels  of  which  the  neutral  nations 
and  the  western  allies  required  411,000,000  bushels.  How  can 
this  shortage  for  the  neutral  nations  and  the  allies  be  met? 

The  wheat  production  of  the  western  allies  will  this  year  fall 
far  below  the  normal  pre-war  production.  France,  whose  average 
production  in  1911-1913  was  324,000,000  bushels  will  produce 
this  year  but  one-half  this  crop — 162,000,000  bushels.^  On  the 
basis  of  pre-war  conditions  France  would  require  therefore  an  im- 
portation of  182,000,000  bushels.  The  wheat  crop  of  Italy  is  below 
the  pre-war  average,  and  it  is  estimated  that  Italy's  deficit  will 
amount  to  73,000,000  as  compared  to  59,000,000  bushels  for  1911- 
1913.  The  wheat  crop  in  the  United  Kingdom  is  reported  in  excel- 
lent condition,  but  an  importation  of  over  200,000,000  bushels  may 
be  required  to  fully  meet  the  needs.  This  gives  a  total  deficiency 
of  over  457,000,000  bushels  of  wheat  for  the  three  western  allies. 
To  this  must  be  added  the  needs  of  Greece  and  Portugal  (9,000,000 
bushels  before  the  war)  and  the  neutral  countries  which,  as  we 
have  seen,  in  the  pre-war  period  amounted  to  67,000,000  bushels. 

Can  the  wheat  exporting  nations  meet  this  western  European 

^Estimate  of  International  Institute  of  Agriculture  as  given  in  monthly  Crop 
Report,  United  States  Department  of  Agriculture,  August,  1915. 


The  World's  Food  Supply  11 

deficiency  of  over  524,000,000  bushels?  Of  the  five  countries  that 
usually  have  a  large  available  surplus  of  wheat — United  States, 
Canada,  Argentina,  India  and  Australia — one,  Argentina,  has  prac- 
tically no  surplus,  the  1916-1917  crop  being  practically  a  failure. 
Canada  will  probably  have  a  surplus  of  120,000,000  bushels,  and 
Austraha  50,000,000.  This  gives  a  total  of  328,000,000  bushels. 
To  this  may  be  added  several  miUion  bushels  of  surplus  from  North 
Africa  (Algeria  and  Tunis).  But  on  the  other  hand  South  Africa, 
Brazil  and  Japan  are  in  normal  years  additional  wheat  importing 
countries.  It  would  seem,  therefore,  that  the  1917  wheat  supply 
would  fall  at  least  200,000,000  bushels  short  of  the  normal  demand, 
and  will  probably  be  over  300,000,000  bushels. 

Corn.  Corn  rivals  wheat  in  quantity  produced,  but  its  impor- 
tance as  a  food  supply  is  verj^  much  less.  This  is  due  to  the  fact 
that  the  merits  of  corn  as  a  human  food  are  not  fully  appreciated  by 
a  large  proportion  of  the  human  race,  its  cultivation  is  less  capable 
of  extension  due  to  climatic  limitations,  and  much  of  the  crop  is 
used  for  feeding  animals.  In  the  years  1911-1913,  the  United 
States  produced  2,700,000,000  bushels  of  corn,  against  3,800,000,000 
bushels  for  the  world  production.  This  was  over  71  per  cent  of  the 
world  crop.  Most  of  this  great  yield  was  consumed  at  home  by 
cattle  and  swine,  only  48,000,000  bushels  (1^  per  cent)  being  ex- 
ported. Argentina,  the  second  country  in  production,  produced 
in  the  same  period  252,000,000  bushels,  of  which  half  (128,000,000 
bushels)  was  exported.  The  only  other  countries  in  which  corn 
production  exceeded  100,000,000  bushels  were  Austria-Hungary, 
Roumania  and  Italy.  India,  Russia,  Egypt,  South  Africa  and 
Bulgaria  are  lesser  producers.  Since  the  United  States  crop  for 
1917  promises  to  surpass  all  previous  records,  the  estimate  being 
3,248,000,000  bushels,  an  increase  of  700,000,000  bushels  over  the 
1916  crop,  the  almost  total  failure  of  the  Argentine  crop  is  more 
than  compensated.  Since  the  corn  crop  of  Italy  also  promises 
well  for  this  season,  the  surplus  corn  may  help  in  the  conservation 
of  our  wheat.  The  corn  crop  of  the  United  States  for  this  year  will 
be  greater  than  the  total  world  production  previous  to  1905. 

Rye  and  Barley.  As  a  source  of  food  in  many  countries  of 
Europe,  notably  Russia  and  Germany,  rye  is  a  more  important 
food  supply  than  wheat.  Barley  is  also  of  very  great  importance, 
although  a  considerable  part  of  this  crop  has  been  used  in  the  manu- 


12 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


The  World's  Food  Supply 


13 


facture  of  malt.  Over  one-half  of  the  world's  rye  and  one-third 
of  the  world's  barley  are  grown  in  Russia.  Of  the  1,783,000,000 
bushels  of  rye  produced  in  1911-1913,  the  countries  now  occupied 
by  the  Central  Powers  produced  655,000,000  bushels,  about  37  per 
cent  of  world  production.  These  countries  had  a  slight  surplus  for 
export,  about  29,000,000  bushels  above  imports.  For  barley,  the 
Central  Powers  were  much  more  dependent  upon  the  outside  world. 
They  imported,  in  addition  to  a  production  of  353,000,000  bushels, 
equivalent  to  one-fourth  of  the  world  production,  175,000,000  bush- 
els, against  an  export  of  41,000,000  bushels.  Germany  especially 
was  a  heavy  importer  of  barley. 


Import 

16 

"  1.5 


23.6 


4 

8 

31 

10 


53.7 

2 
3 
.6 

5.6 
6 

107 


Table 

III 

Production, 

Import  and  Export  of  Rte 

Millions  of  bushels.     1911- 

-1913  averages 

Central  Powers 

Germany 

Austria-Hungary 

Bulgaria 

Roumania 

Belgium 

Production 
455 
163 
10 

Export 

45 

1 

2.3 
3 
1 

Total — Central  Powers 

655 

52.3 

Neutral  Countries 

Spain 

Sweden 

Denmark 

Holland 

Norway 

Switzerland 

25 
23 
18 
16 

1 

1.7 

19 

Total — Neutrals 

84.7 

19 

Western  Allies 
United  Kingdom 
France 
Italy 

1.6 

48 
5 

•• 

Total— Allies 

54.6 

,  , 

Other  Countries 
Russia 

United  States 
Canada 

935 
37 
2.4 

35 

1 

Total— World 

1,783 

107 

14 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


The  World's  Food  Supply 


15 


i6  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

The  neutral  countries  of  Europe  produced  rye  and  barley  in 
important  quantities,  this  crop  being  suited  to  their  severe  climate 
and  soil  conditions.  To  meet  their  consumption  needs,  however, 
a  net  import  of  34,000,000  bushels  of  rye  was  required  and  18,000,000 
bushels  of  barley. 

Table  IV 

Production,  Import  and  Export  of  Barley 

Millions  of  bushels.     1911-1913  averages 


Central  Powers 

Production 

Export 

Import 

Germany 

168 

1.2  (malt) 

154 

Austria-Hungary 

153 

18 

.8 

Bulgaria 

11 

1 

Roumania 

25 

17 

Belgium 

4 

4 

20 

Total — Central  Powers 

353 

41.2 

174.8 

Neutral  Countries 

Spain 

67 

.. 

Sweden 

14 

.. 

Denmark 

23 

3.5 

2.1 

Norway 

3 

4 

Holland 

3 

30 

41 

Switzerland 

.5 

33.5 

4.5 

Total— Neutrals 

110.5 

51.6 

Western  Allies 

United  Kingdom 

62.5 

1 

62 

France 

48 

.5 

7 

Italy 

10 

•• 

.8 

Total— Allies 

120.6 

1.5 

69.8 

Other  Countries 

Russia 

485 

168 

United  States 

187 

8 

.. 

Algeria  and  Tunis  . 

45 

8 

.. 

India 

38 

17 

Argentina 

5 

1 

(malt)  1.3 

Canada 

47 

7 

.. 

Japan 

93 

•• 

•• 

Total— World 

1,489 

294 

290 

The  World's  Food  Supply  17 

Among  the  western  allies,  rye  was  of  little  importance  as  a  food 
product,  except  in  France,  whose  production  of  48,000,000  bushels 
suppHed  her  needs  within  3,000,000  bushels.  Very  little  rye  was 
imported  into  England  and  Italy.  Barley,  on  the  other  hand,  was 
of  considerable  importance.  The  United  Kingdom  grew  more  barley 
than  wheat  and  imported  in  addition  52,000,000  bushels.  The  net 
imports  of  barley  into  the  United  Kingdom,  France  and  Italy 
amounted  to  58,000,000  bushels.  The  neutral  countries  of  Europe 
and  the  western  allies,  therefore,  before  the  war  required  in  addition 
to  their  production  of  rye  and  barley  an  importation  of  116,000,000 
bushels  of  these  two  grains.  The  supply  of  the  40,000,000  bushels 
of  rye  in  this  deficit  was  obtained  largely  from  Russia  and  Germany 
— sources  that  are  not  now  available.  The  76,000,000  bushels  of 
barlej''  imports  had  a  wider  source.  In  addition  to  Russia  and 
Roumania,  which  supplied  60  per  cent  of  the  barley  exports  before 
the  war,  barley  exports  from  India,  Algeria  and  Tunis,  the  United 
States  and  Canada,  were  of  some  importance.  With  the  restrictions 
of  the  use  of  barley  and  rye  for  liquors,  and  the  increased  use  of 
flour  from  these  grains  for  bread,  the  barley  and  rye  crops  have 
assumed  an  increased  importance  as  a  food  during  the  war. 

The  estimates  of  rye  and  barley  crops  for  1917  in  Europe  are 
favorable.  The  United  States  estimates*  place  barley  production 
17,000,000  bushels  above  the  1911-1913  average,  while  an  estimated 
rye  production  of  56,000,000  bushels  makes  the  production  of  this 
grain  19,000,000  bushels  above  the  average.  Nevertheless,  the 
shutting  off  of  Russian  and  central  European  rye  and  barley  from 
the  neutral  and  western  allies  adds  a  very  serious  burden  to  the 
problem  of  supplying  Europe  with  grain  this  year.  Based  upon  the 
consumption  of  grains  before  the  war,  the  neutral  nations  and 
western  allies  face  a  shortage  of  at  least  640,000,000  bushels  of 
wheat,  rye  and  barley.  If  we  should  add  to  this  the  needs  in  corn, 
oats  and  other  grains,  the  cereal  deficiency  will  mount  up  into 
figures  well  over  1,000,000,000  bushels.  The  staggering  burden  of 
meeting  this  deficiency  is  placed  upon  the  cereal  surplus  countries 
of  the  Americas,  Asia  and  Australia. 

Rice.     Estimates  of  the  world  production  of  rice  are  less  reli- 
able than  for  the  other  grain  crops  for  the  reason  that  China,  prob- 
ably the  largest  producer,  furnishes  no  data  for  any  accurate  esti- 
•  Monthly  Crop  Report,  September,  1917. 


I 


18 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


mate.  The  estimate  of  2,200,000,000  bushels  of  cleaned  rice  for 
1910  for  all  countries  except  China,  is  based  upon  the  data  given  in 
recent  Year  Books  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture  and  Statistical 
Notes  of  the  International  Institute  of  Agriculture^  The  produc- 
tion of  three  of  the  eighteen  provinces  of  China  is  given  in  1910  at 
nearly  800,000,000  bushels.^  The  importance  of  rice  as  a  food  is 
even  greater  than  its  quantity  of  production  would  indicate.  Judged 
by  food  value,  rice  far  exceeds  its  nearest  competitor.  A  sixty 
pound  bushel  of  wheat  has  three-fourths  of  the  food  value  of  a  sixty 
pound  bushel  of  cleaned  rice.  Even  more  than  wheat,  rice  is  con- 
sumed in  the  countries  where  it  is  grown.  As  shown  in  Table  V,  of 
the  200,000,000  bushels  that  enter  international  trade,  the  largest 
proportion  is  a  transference  of  rice  from  one  tropic  country  to 
another  or  to  the  rice  producing  countries  of  China  and  Japan. 


Table  V 

Rice  Production,  Export  and  Import 

Millions  of  bushels.     1911-1913  averages 

Production                           Export 

Import 

World 

2,200  (excluding  China)        210 

191 

India  and  Ceylon 

1,091.7                                   100 

19 

Japan  (Empire) 

341 

20 

Java 

133                                           2.2 

18.5 

French  Indo-China 

83.3                                     32 

Siam 

54                                        30 

Philippines 

19 

7 

United  States 

12 

4 

Italy 

11 

.... 

China 

(no  data)                                   

10 

Singapore  and  Straits 

(no  data)                                    18 

36 

Russia     • 

6 

4.5 

Germany 

6.6 

17.5 

Holland 

8.5 

14 

United  Kingdom 

....                                      .... 

12 

Belgium 

1.6 

3 

France 

1 

8.1 

Egypt 

8.3 

2 

Cuba 

.  • .  •                                      .... 

4.6 

^  Statistical  Notes  on  the  Production,  Imports  and  Exports,  Prices  and 
Maritime  Freights  of  Cereals.  Rome:  International  Institute  of  Agriculture. 
Published  twice  yearly. 

» Year  Book,  Dept.  of  Agriculture,  1916,  p.  608. 


The  World's  Food  Supply  19 

Only  a  small  proportion  of  the  rice  surplus  normally  goes  to  Euro- 
pean countries — not  much  over  one-third. 

Of  the  western  countries  Italy  and  the  United  States  are  the  only 
countries  in  which  the  growing  of  rice  has  become  an  important  indus- 
try. From  1911-1913  the  average  production  in  the  United  States 
was  12,000,000  bushels  of  cleaned  rice,  as  compared  to  11,000,000 
bushels  for  Italy.  The  possibilities  of  future  extension  in  the  United 
States  of  this,  the  most  important  of  all  food  crops,  are  almost 
unlimited.  Since  its  production  requires  much  outlay  of  time  and 
capital  in  equipping  for  irrigation,  it  cannot  be  depended  upon  to  a 
large  extent  as  an  emergency  crop  for  meeting  shortages  in  other 
grains  during  the  war.  The  1917  estimate  of  rice  production  in  the 
United  States,  however,  is  given  at  32,200,000  bushels.® 

Beans.  A  food  crop  of  great  importance  in  the  far  east,  beans 
are  of  relatively  small  importance  in  the  west,  when  compared  with 
the  grains.  Of  the  countries  for  which  we  have  statistics,  India, 
with  125,000,000  bushels,  is  the  most  important;  Italy,  with  23,000,- 
000  bushels;  Japan,  with  21,000,000  bushels;  Austria-Hungary,  with 
19,000,000  bushels;  Russia,  with  12,000,000;  Spain  and  the  United 
States,  each  with  11,500,000  were  the  most  important  producers 
before  the  war.  The  introduction  of  the  soy  bean  from  China  and 
Japan  into  the  western  world  met  the  need  of  a  seed-crop  of  large 
yielding  possibilities.  Since  the  soy  bean,  because  of  its  large 
content  of  oil  and  proteids,  can  be  a  substitute  for  meat,  this  crop 
is  becoming  an  increasingly  important  one.  The  production  of 
beans  this  year  in  the  United  States  and  especially  of  the  soy  bean 
in  the  southern  states,  will  be  far  in  excess  of  any  previous  year,  and 
should  be  an  important  addition  to  our  food  supply. 

Potatoes.  The  potato  crop  of  the  world,  measured  by  its  bulk, 
is  one  of  the  most  important  of  our  food  crops.  Nearly  68  per 
cent  of  this  enormous  crop  is  produced  in  Germany,  Russia  and 
Austria-Hungary.  Very  little,  however,  enters  international  trade. 
The  crop  is  consumed  at  home.  Only  75,000,000  bushels  out  of 
the  5,313,000,000  total  entered  foreign  trade  and  this  for  the  most 
part  was  across  the  frontiers  of  Germany.  A  very  large  part  of 
the  potato  crop  is  used  for  industrial  purposes.  This,  combined 
with  the  low  food  value  of  a  bushel  of  potatoes  as  compared  to  a 
bushel  of  grain,  puts  the  food  value  of  the  potato  crop  lower  than 

»  Monthly  Crop  Report,  September,  1917. 


20 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


The  World's  Food  Supply 


21 


any  of  the  grains  or  sugar  as  far  as  its  total  value  to  the  world  is 
concerned.  Its  importance  to  the  potato-growing  nations  of  Europe, 
however,  should  not  be  underestimated.  Germany,  the  largest  pro- 
ducer before  the  war,  was  also  the  largest  importer.  The  net  import 
into  Germany — 17,000,000  bushels — was  over  three  times  as  large 
as  the  net  imports  of  Great  Britain — 5,100,000  bushels.  Before  the 
war  the  western  allies,  with  the  exception  of  the  United  Kingdom, 
and  the  neutral  countries  except  Switzerland,  were  either  exporting 
potatoes  or  fully  meeting  their  own  needs.     The  1917  prospects 

Table  VI 


Production,  Export  and  Import  of  Potatoes 
Millions  of  bushels.     1911-1913  averages 


Central  Powers 

Production 

Export 

Import 

Germany 

1,699 

12 

29 

Austria-Hungary 

642 

1.3 

4 

Roumania 

3 

Belgium 

113 

9 
22.3 

6 

Total — Central  Powers 

2,457 

39 

Neutrals 

Holland 

128 

16 

2 

Sweden 

66 

Denmark 

36 

1 

Norway 

27 

.... 

Switzerland 

42 

3.2 

Spain 

92 

1.8 
18.8 

Total — Neutrals 

391 

5.2 

Western  Allies 

France 

507 

8 

7 

United  Kingdom 

260 

6  2 

U.3 

Italy 

61 

4 
18.2 

Total— Allies 

828 

18.3 

Other  Countries 

Russia 

1,288 

8 

United  States 

348 

1.8 

.... 

Argentina 

38 

1.3 

Canada 

78 

1.4 
75 

Total— World 

5,313 

77 

22  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

indicate  a  surplus  production  of  potatoes  in  Italy/°  and  good  crops 
in  France  and  Great  Britain.  In  the  United  States,  the  potato  crop 
this  year  is  given  as  100,000,000  bushels  above  the  pre-war  aver- 
age, and  175,000,000  above  last  year's  crop.^^  The  supply  of  this 
staple  vegetable  should  be  more  than  sufficient  to  meet  the  normal 
demand,  and  help  relieve  the  great  shortage  in  grains. 

Sugar.  In  the  year  preceding  the  war,  1913,  the  world  sugar 
crop  was  given  at  20,883,000  tons.  The  wheat  crop  was  1 14,000,000 
tons.  This  makes  sugar  one  of  the  bulky  food  products  and  be- 
cause of  the  high  food  value  of  sugar  it  stands  next  to  rice  and  wheat 
as  a  world  food.  Of  the  20,883,000  tons  of  sugar,  11,118,000  were 
cane  sugar,  the  balance  beet  sugar.  With  the  exception  of  the 
733,000  tons  of  beet  sugar  produced  in  the  United  States,  prac- 
tically the  entire  beet  sugar  supply  was  grown  in  Central  Europe. 
Germany,  Russia  and  Austria-Hungary  alone  produced  67.4  per  cent 
of  the  total  beet  sugar  and  32.4  per  cent  of  the  total  sugar  supply. 
Germany  and  Austria-Hungary,  and,  to  a  lesser  extent,  Russia,  were 
enormous  exporters.  In  fact,  every  country  of  Europe,  with  the 
exception  of  Great  Britain,  Italy,  Swit25erland  and  Norway,  and 
some  of  the  Balkan  States,  was  either  meeting  all  its  own  sugar  needs 
or  producing  for  export.  The  United  Kingdom,  however,  was  not 
producing  any  sugar,  and  was,  next  to  the  United  States,  the  largest 
importer  of  sugar  in  the  world.  Of  the  2,000,000  tons  of  sugar 
imported  into  the  United  Kingdom,  about  one-third  came  from 
Germany  and  Austria-Hungary.  Belgium,  Holland  and  France 
were  also  exporting  sugar  to  England. 

The  outbreak  of  the  war  made  necessary  a  radical  change  in 
Europe's  sugar  supply.  The  big  export  market  for  German  and 
Austrian  sugar  being  shut  off,  sugar-beet  production  in  these  coun- 
tries gave  place  to  other  crops.  The  Belgium  beet  sugar  and  much 
of  the  sugar-beet  area  of  France  came  under  Germany's  control,  so 
that  even  France  was  deprived  of  her  own  sugar  supplies.  The 
neutral  importers,  Norway  and  Switzerland,  have  remained  in 
touch  with  the  Central  European  sugar  countries,  but  the  western 
nations  have  been  compelled  to  go  to  the  tropics.  This  has  given 
a  great  impetus  to  cane  sugar  growing. 

In  Russia  there  has  been  a  great  decline  in  beet  sugar  produc- 

'"  Commerce  Reports,  August  11,  1917,  p.  547. 
"  Monthly  Crop  Report,  September,  1917. 


The  World's  Food  Supply 


23 


tion  with  the  progress  of  the  war.  So  great  has  been  the  decUne 
that,  according  to  the  International  Sugar  Journal,^"^  Russia  this 
year  will  not  produce  enough  to  supply  her  needs. 


MILL  ION  TONS 
f 


u,s. 


PRODUCT/ON 
I CONSUMPT/ON 
EXPORT 


FIG.  8.     PRODUCTION,  EXPORT  AND  IMPORT  OF  SUGAR  IN  THE  TEN  LEADING 

SUGAR  PRODUCING  COUNTRIES,  AND  THE  IMPORTS  OF  THE  UNITED  KINGDOM, 

CHINA  AND  CANADA.     ARRANGED   IN  ORDER  OF  PRODUCTION,   1913. 

A  large  percentage  of  the  cane  sugar  of  the  world  has  been  pro- 
duced in  Cuba,  India,  Java  and  Hawaii.     Of  these  countries,  India 
^  XXX,  pp.  304,  305,  July,  1917. 


24  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academt 

Table  VII 
pBODncrroN,  Export  and  Impoet  of  Sugar,  1913 

Short  tons 
Cane  Sugar 
Cuba 
India 
Java 
Hawaii 
Porto  Rico 
Australia 
South  America 
Mauritius 
United  States 

Total  Cane 

Beet  Sugar 

United  States 

Germany 

Russia 

Austria-Hungary 

France 

Italy 

Holland 

Belgium 

Spain 

Denmark 

Sweden 

Switzerland 

United  Kingdom 

China 

Canada 

Total  Sugar 

consumed  all  her  enormous  production  and  imported  961,000  tons 
in  addition.  The  other  tropic  countries  mentioned,  together  with 
the  other  West  Indian  Islands,  Brazil  and  Peru,  produce  for  export. 
The  war  has  greatly  stimulated  the  sugar  industry  of  the  tropics, 
especially  of  the  West  Indies,  South  America,  Formosa  and  Java, 
reviving  the  ancient  industry.  The  1916-1917  crops  of  cane  sugar 
will  surpass  all  previous  records.  England  and  France  are  now 
receiving  their  sugar  import  from  the  East  and  West  Indies,  Mauri- 
tius and  indirectly  the  United  States.     The  establishment  of  new 


Production 

Export 

Import 

2,909,000 

2,738,000 

2,534,000 

961,000 

1,591,000 

1,471,000 

612,000 

543,000 

398,000 

382,000 

■   397,000 

88,000 

874,000 

250,000 

206,000 

271,000 

227,000 

300,000 

3,306,000 

11,118,000 

733,000 

2,886,000 

2,231,000 

2,031,000 

415,000(1912)  

1,858,000 

1,184,000 

861,000 

221,000 

123,000 

337,000 

15,000 

253,000 

220,000 

123,000 

249,000 

125,000 



187,000 

158,000 

151,000 

5,000 

129,000 
1,936,000 

(?) 

474,000 
335,000 

20,883,000 

9,707,000 

8,925,000 

The  World's  Food  Supply  25 

sugar  plantations,  with  the  installation  of  necessary  machinery  for 
crushing  and  preparing  the  raw  sugar  for  market,  is  not  a  rapid 
process  and  the  extension  of  the  sugar  cane  production  cannot 
rapidly  meet  the  deficit  caused  by  the  upheaval  of  the  sugar  industry 
in  Europe. 

Meats  and  Other  Animal  Foods.  The  animal  foods  consist  of 
meats  (principally  beef,  pork  and  mutton,  with  a  relatively  very 
small  amount  of  goat,  horse,  dogmcat  and  poultry),  milk,  butter 
and  cheese,  and  fish.  Compared  with  grains  and  vegetables,  meats 
are  of  much  less  importance  as  a  world  food  supply  than  we  of  the 
western  world  are  accustomed  to  thinking.  Figure  1  shows  the 
combined  food  value  of  beef,  pork  and  mutton  to  be  only  three- 
fifths  that  of  potatoes,  and  scarcely  to  be  compared  with  rice  and 
wheat.  This  is  another  way  of  saying  that  meat  does  not  play  an 
important  part  in  the  diet  of  the  world.  Only  a  few  countries  are 
large  meat  consumers.  These  countries  are  the  newly  opened 
countries  of  large  grazing  facilities  and  small  population  such  as 
Australia,  New  Zealand,  United  States,  Argentina  and  Canada,  or 
the  countries  of  large  industrial  population  that  can  readily  import 
meat.  The  United  Kingdom,  Germany,  France  and  Belgium 
represent  such  countries.  But  the  per  capita  consumption  is  very 
much  less  than  in  the  first  group.  The  people  of  the  densely  popu- 
lated countries  of  the  far  east  and  the  tropics  eat  very  little  meat. 
No  figures  are  available,  but  the  per  capita  consumption  of  China 
would  probably  be  very  much  lower  than  that  of  the  lowest  Euro- 
pean country  shown  in  the  diagram.     (Figure  9.) 

Not  only  is  meat  consumption  relatively  small  in  most  countries, 
but  the  meat  that  is  consumed  is  produced  at  home.  Only  a  small 
part  of  the  production  enters  international  trade.  The  total  ton- 
nage of  meats  in  import  trade  in  1912  is  given  at  2,400,000  tons," 
8  per  cent  of  the  world's  consumption,  which  is  estimated  at  25,000,- 
000  tons.  The  movement  of  the  world  wheat  crop  for  the  same 
year  was  22,500,000  tons  out  of  a  production  of  114,000,000  tons. 
Over  85  per  cent  of  the  world  exports  of  meat  in  1912  were  suppHed 
by  five  countries,  viz.,  Argentina  and  Uruguay,  36  per  cent; 
United  States,  31.1  per  cent;  Australia  and  New  Zealand,  18.7. 
Canada,  Denmark  and  Russia  supplied  practically  all  of  the  remain- 

"G.  K.  Holmes,  Meat  Situation  in  the  United  States,  Part  I.  Report 
No.  109,  U.  S.  Dept.  of  Agriculture,  Office  of  the  Secretary,  p.  15. 


26 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


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The  World's  Food  Supply  27 

der.  The  only  country  in  which  imports  of  meat  constituted  a  large 
proportion  of  the  consumption  was  the  United  Kingdom,  40  per 
cent  of  this  country's  meat  needs  being  imported.  This  was  nearly 
62  per  cent  of  the  total  world  imports  of  meats.  Germany,  Holland, 
Belgium,  France,  Russia,  Switzerland,  Norway,  Sweden,  Denmark 
and  Spain  were  all  importers  of  meats,  fats  and  oils.  The  only 
country  outside  of  Europe  which  imports  meats  in  considerable 
quantity  is  Cuba.  Beginning  with  1913,  however,  a  considerable 
and  growing  importation  of  meat  into  the  United  States  had  devel- 
oped, principally  of  chilled  meat  from  Argentina  and  Australasia. 
This  importation  in  1914  amounted  to  200,000,000  pounds  and  in 
1915  to  223,000,000  pounds,  making  the  United  States  the  fourth 
country  in  importance  as  an  importer  of  meat,  as  well  as  the  leading 
exporter. 

The  effect  of  the  war  upon  the  meat  supply  is  very  difficult  to 
measure  with  any  high  degree  of  accuracy.  The  great  demand 
for  food  for  man,  combined  with  the  difficulty  of  importing  animal 
fodder,  or  the  desire  to  use  the  grains  for  food  rather  than  for  fodder, 
has  caused  an  increased  slaughter  of  animals.  According  to  the 
United  States  Food  Commission,^^  the  number  of  meat  producing 
animals  has  decreased  since  the  outbreak  of  the  war  by  115,005,000, 
divided  as  follows:  cattle,  28,080,000;  sheep,  54,500,000;  hogs, 
32,425,000.  The  greatest  reduction  was,  of  course,  in  the  warring 
nations  and  some  of  the  nearby  neutrals.  But  the  increased 
slaughter  in  some  of  the  surplus  meat  countries  seriously  depleted 
the  number.  For  example,  the  number  of  sheep  in  Australia  fell 
from  78,600,000  in  1904  to  72,300,000  in  1916.  In  France,  the 
decrease  is  estimated  to  have  been  for  cattle  from  14,800,000  in 
December,  1913  to  10,845,000  in  1916;  for  hogs,  from  7,047,000  in 
1913  to  4,362,000  in  1916.'*  In  the  Netherlands  and  Norway  there 
has  been  a  slight  increase  in  the  number  of  animals. 

German  stocks  were  seriously  reduced  in  the  fall  of  1914  and 
early  1915,  but  apparently  have  been  gradually  increased  since. ^* 
If  the  accounts  that  have  come  to  us  of  the  food  shortages  in  Ger- 
many are  at  all  correct,  one  of  the  most  serious  deficiencies  is  in 
animal  fats  and  foods. 

"Washington  Official  Bulletin,  August  21,  1917. 

"  Data  from  Robert  W.  Woodbury,  personal  communication. 

1"  Ibid. 


28 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


The  World's  Food  Supply 


2d 


30  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

To  meet  the  increasing  demands  of  the  western  aUies  the 
United  States,  Argentina,  Australasia  and  South  Africa  are  being 
called  upon  as  never  before  for  meat  supplies.  Our  exportations  of 
meat  last  year  (1916-1917)  were  well  over  2,000,000,000  pounds  as 
compared  with  493,848,000  for  the  three  year  pre-war  average,  a 
gain  of  over  fourfold. 

Dairy  Products.  Other  animal  products  of  large  importance 
are  butter,  cheese  and  milk.  Milk  enters  into  international  trade  in 
the  form  of  condensed  milk,  butter  and  cheese.  Butter  and  cheese, 
particularly,  being  items  of  small  bulk  relative  to  their  high  food 
value  and  their  high  money  value,  are  of  considerable  importance. 
The  chief  dairying  region  of  the  world  is  northwestern  Europe,  where 
climate  especially  favors  the  dairy  cow.  Butter,  cheese  and  milk 
here  are  all  exceedingly  important  foods,  and  in  spite  of  the  enormous 
quantities  that  are  produced  for  consumption  large  additional 
quantities  were  imported  from  foreign  countries.  Tables  VIII  and 
IX  indicate  the  chief  importing  and  exporting  countries  of  butter 
and  cheese. 

The  effect  of  the  war  on  dairy  products  has  been  disastrous. 
The  large  killing  of  milk  animals  for  meat,  the  shortage  of  animal 
fodder,  and  the  drain  upon  labor  for  armies  have  all  contributed  to 
a  lessened  milk  supply.    Of  the  countries  now  under  control  of  the 


Table  VIII 

Exports  of  Butter  and 

v^HKEjSS 

Millions  of  Pounds. 

Average  1911-1913  of  Leading  Countries 

Butter 

Cheese 

Total 

Holland 

71 

130 

201 

Denmark 

200 

200 

Australia  and  New  Zealand 

116 

ei 

177 

Russia 

167 

8 

175 

Canada 

4 

157 

161 

Italy 

8 

67 

75 

Switzerland 

70 

70 

France 

36 

30 

66 

Sweden 

48 

48 

United  States 

5 

6 

11 

Argentina 

.      8.3 

8 

Bulgaria 

5 
648 

5 

Total— World 

710 

1,258 

I 


122 

50 

172 

16 

49 

65 

50 

50 

15 

32 

47 

10 

13 

23 

12 

8 

20 

12 

12 

10 

10 

6 

6 

6 

6 

The  World's  Food  Supply  31 

Table  IX 

Imports  of  Butter  and  Cheese 

Millions  of  Pounds.     Average  1911-1913  of  Leading  Countries 

Butter  Cheese  Total 

Onited  Kingdom  451  253  704 

Germany 
France 

United  States 
Belgium 

Austria-Hungary 
Switzerland 
Italy 

Argentina 
Canada 
Denmark 

Total— World  697  539  1,236 

Central  Powers,  Germany,  Austria  and  Belgium  were  all  large 
importers  of  butter  and  cheese.  These  supplies  were  obtained 
principally  from  Russia  and  the  neighboring  neutral  countries, 
particularly  Denmark,  Holland,  Sweden  and  Switzerland.  During 
the  war,  butter  and  dairy  products  have  been  the  chief,  practically 
the  only,  foodstuffs,  that  the  neutral  countries  could  supply  the 
Central  Powers.  But  the  grain  shortages  and  the  decreased  ability 
to  import  the  usual  amounts  of  cattle  food  have  greatly  curtailed 
dairy  production  in  these  neutral  countries  as  well  as  among  the 
warring  nations. 

With  the  usual  supply  of  butter  from  Russia  cut  off,  combined 
with  the  decreased  production  at  home  and  among  the  neighboring 
neutral  countries,  the  western  allies  are  demanding  more  and  more 
butter,  cheese  and  condensed  milk  from  extra-European  countries. 
Before  the  war,  451,000,000  pounds  of  butter,  65  per  cent  of  the 
world's  imports,  were  brought  into  the  United  Kingdom,  although 
the  production  of  the  United  Kingdom  itself  was  very  large.  This, 
combined  with  an  import  of  253,000,000  pounds  of  cheese  and  a 
very  large  import  of  condensed  milk,  made  the  United  Kingdom  by 
far  the  largest  importer  of  dairy  supplies.  How  this  demand  is  now 
put  upon  countries  outside  of  Europe  is  indicated  by  the  growth 
of  exports  of  dairy  products  from  the  United  States  as  shown  in 
Table  X, 


32  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

Table  X 
Exports  of  Butter,  Cheese  and  Milk  from  United  States 

Butter  Qba.)  Cheese  Qha.)    Condensed  Milk  (lbs.) 

1913  3,585,600  2,599,058  16,-525,918 

1916-1917  26,835,092  66,087,213  -259,102,213 

The  importance  of  milk  and  its  products  as  a  food  for  western 
nations  is  exceedingly  great,  especially  when  we  consider  the  relation 
of  the  milk  supply  to  the  strength  and  development  of  children.  A 
real  danger  of  shortage  of  this  food  faces  the  nations  today,  both  in 
Europe  and  in  the  United  States,  unless  immediate  steps  are  taken 
looking  toward  the  increase  in  dairy  cattle. 

Fish.  The  catching  of  food  fish  is  almost  universal,  and  since 
fishing  is  practiced  by  the  individual  on  a  small  scale  with  rod  along 
the  brook  as  well  as  by  great  fishing  fleets  upon  the  high  seas,  it  is 
very  difiicult  to  even  roughly  estimate  the  amount  of  food  thus 
supplied.  In  Japan  fish  is  a  staple  article  of  diet  of  first-class 
importance.  But  even  here  the  grains  and  vegetables  are  very 
much  more  important.  In  most  other  countries  fish  is  relatively  of 
very  small  importance.  One  writer^^  states  that  the  fish  catch  in 
the  United  States  is  not  one-fifth  as  valuable  as  the  butter  produced, 
and  that  the  fish  of  all  the  world  are  only  two-thirds  as  valuable  as 
the  poultry  and  egg  production  of  the  United  States.  Neverthe- 
less, fish  is  an  article  of  diet  of  no  mean  importance  in  several  coun- 
tries in  Europe,  as  is  shown  by  Table  XI. 


Table  XI 

Per  Capita  Consumption  of 

Fish 

Pounds 

Pounds 

United  Kingdom 
France 
Germany 
Denmark 

41.4  (1913)               Norway 
14.2  (pre-war)          Sweden 
19.1                           Holland 

26.5  (1913)               United  States 

140.9  (1915) 

44.3  (1914) 

15.4  (1913) 
21.2  (1908) 

In  the  Scandinavian  countries,  Denmark  and  United  Kingdom, 
fish  was  of  considerable  more  importance  than  in  France,  Holland 
or  Germany.  That  the  problem  of  securing  fish  supplies  is  now 
more  difiicult  is  to  be  expected  from  the  naval  activities  in  the  North 

"  J.  R.  Smith,  Industrial  and  Commercial  Geography,  p.  324. 


The  World's  Food  Supply  33 

Sea  and  surrounding  waters.  The  estimated  fish  production  of  the 
United  Kingdom  for  1917  is  placed  at  8,000,000  cwt.  or  less  than  one- 
third  the  production  of  1913.  French  production  for  1917  will  be 
one-third  that  of  pre-war  production;  Germany  secured  three- 
fourths  of  her  fish  produced  from  the  North  Sea  before  the  war  and 
in  addition  imported  large  quantities.  It  would  be  safe  to  estimate 
Germany's  fish  production  for  1917  as  probably  not  over  half  of  the 
pre-war  production.  On  the  other  hand,  Sweden,  Holland  and 
Denmark  have  increased  their  fish  production  in  the  last  three  years, 
and  Norway's  production  has  remained  nearly  stationary.^* 

Conclusion 

The  outstanding  fact  in  reviewing  the  food  supply  of  the  world 
is  the  importance  of  Europe  as  an  agricultural  and  grazing  region. 
In  spite  of  Europe's  small  area,  great  industrial  development  and 
large  population,  it  is  the  greatest  agricultural  region  of  the  world. 
Here  are  produced  the  largest  supplies  of  wheat,  rye,  barley,  oats, 
potatoes,  sugar,  meats  and  dairy  products,  and  many  other  of  the 
important  foods  of  man.  In  1913,  65.4  per  cent  of  the  world's  total 
production  of  wheat,  oats,  rye  and  barley  were  grown  in  Europe; 
90.5  per  cent  of  the  world's  potato  crop;  43  per  cent  of  the  world's 
sugar;  18  per  cent  of  the  world's  corn;  31.8  per  cent  of  the  world's 
cattle.  With  the  exception  of  rice,  millet  and  corn,  Europe  leads 
the  world  in  the  production  of  most  of  the  great  staple  articles  that 
feed  mankind.  In  spite  of  this  enormous  production,  Europe  is  the 
chief  importer  from  the  outside  world  of  foodstufi"s  and  other  sup- 
phes,  like  fertilizer  and  fodder,  that  are  used  in  producing  foods. 
With  the  disorganization  of  the  agricultural  life  occasioned  by  the 
war,  both  in  Europe  and  outside  of  Europe,  with  the  great  demand 
upon  the  ship  tonnage  of  the  world,  needed  for  war  purposes  and 
decreasing  as  the  ravages  of  the  submarine  continue,  with  the  actual 
destruction  of  large  amounts  of  foods  by  the  destructive  agencies  of 
war  on  land  and  the  sinking  of  food  ships  on  the  sea,  the  provisioning 
of  Europe  is  a  serious  problem.  So  big  is  it,  indeed,  that  the  food 
resources  of  all  the  world,  under  existing  organization,  are  being 
strained  to  the  utmost  to  meet  the  needs. 

1*  Information  in  regard  to  fish  is  from  Robert  W.  Woodbury,  personal  com- 
mmiication. 


34  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


:  INTERNATIONAL   RATIONING 

By  Burwell  S.  Cutler, 

Acting  Chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Foreign  and  Domestic  Commerce,  United  States 
Department  of  Commerce. 

Proceeding  out  of  the  congregative  instinct  to  which  all  self- 
governing  animals  give  themselves  when  in  prolonged  trouble, 
mankind  is  now  dividing  itself  into  two  main  camps  of  warlike  and 
economic  action.  Each  camp  aims  to  make  of  itself  a  complete 
economic  erttity,  self-sustaining  and  aggressively  independent. 
Rationing  schemes  under  governmental  authority  and  administered 
by  semi-official  committees  are  everywhere  in  evidence, 

I  propose  the  idea  that  the  plan  of  national  and  international 
rationing  grows  out  of  the  instinct  of  self-preservation  and  will 
continue,  under  the  stress  of  economic  pressure  following  the  war,  to 
be  a  permanent  featare  of  civilization. 

Let  me  describe  to  you  briefly  the  European  committees  in 
operation.  Many  of  these  do  not  confine  their  supervision  to  food- 
stuffs or  industrial  materials  although  it  is  true  that  all  of  them 
have  a  direct  bearing  on  the  ebb  and  flow  of  commodities  in  the  final 
analysis. 

In  London  we  have : 

1.  The  Contraband  Committee  whose  purpose  is  self-evident; 

2.  The  War  Trade  Intelligence  Department  whose  duty  it  is  to 
see  that  individuals  and  concerns  are  prohibited  from  supplying  the 
enemy  with  useful  intelligence,  credit,  foodstuffs  or  other  materials; 

3.  A  War  Trade  Statistical  Department  which  collects  data 
proving  the  normal  and  extraordinary  needs  of  markets  at  home, 
in  enemy  countries  and  in  neutral  countries;  its  recommendations 
are  the  basis  for  action  by  most  of  the  other  committees; 

4.  A  War  Trade  Department  which  concerns  itself  with  licensing 
exports,  especially  wool,  cotton,  rubber  and  tin;  one  of  its  chief 
duties  is  to  supervise  the  exportation  of  these  materials  in  amounts 
adequate  to  the  fulfillment  of  British  war  contracts  in  this  country; 

5.  A  Ministry  of  Shipping  within  whose  control  rests  the  dis- 
position of  practically  all  the  European  ocean  tonnage  in  the  hands 
of  private  concerns  or  of  governments  outside  of  Germany;  it  corre- 
sponds to  our  own  shipping  board  but  has  the  additional  privilege  of 
taking  over  the  management  of  neutral  and  allied  merchant  fleets; 

6.  A  Coal  Exports  Committee  whose  purpose  is  plain; 


International   Rationing  35 

7.  A  Commission  for  Re-Victualment;  this  is  perhaps  the  most 
important  of  them  all  inasmuch  as  it  lays  down  a  rigid  program  of 
allotment  on  foods  and  raw  materials  for  every  country  within  the 
influence  of  Great  Britain,  and  there  is  no  appeal  from  its  decisions, 
especially  on  materials  controlled  by  the  British  government. 

The  French  committees  are,  of  course,  more  limited  in  number, 
due  to  the  fact  that  a  large  part  of  allied  responsibility  has  been 
willingly  placed  on  the  shoulders  of  the  British  committees  which  I 
have  mentioned.  At  present  I  might  list  the  French  committees 
as  follows: 

1.  A  Committee  for  Restricting  the  Provisioning  and  Commerce  of 
the  Enemy;  it  is  composed  of  representatives  technically  qualified 
to  decide  either  on  the  indispensability  of  a  product  of  enemy  origin 
or  on  the  advisability  of  accepting  requisitions  presented  by  private 
persons  for  said  products  or  merchandise,  the  importation  of  which 
is  generally  prohibited  in  view  of  their  origin.  The  findings  of 
this  committee  serve  as  a  technical  basis  for  decisions  by  the  French 
administration.  Its  official  members  are  exclusively  French  scien- 
tists, but  its  meetings  are  attended  by  representatives  of  the  Italian 
and  Russian  embassies  at  Paris  and  by  one  of  the  British  Embassy 
secretaries;  these  three  outside  collaborators  act  as  friendly  coun- 
sellors and  not  as  members. 

2.  An  International  Committee  on  Contingents,  the  word  "con- 
tingent" being  used  here  in  a  technical  sense  that  did  not  obtain 
prior  to  the  war.  The  committee  is  charged  with  the  study  and 
determination  of  cases  relative  to  Switzerland's  need  of  merchandise 
that  must  find  its  way  across  France  and  Italy  to  destination.  As 
in  the  case  of  other  committees  its  resolutions  are  based  on  com- 
parative statistics  for  peace  and  war  times,  it  being  the  purpose  to 
eliminate  whatever  part  of  the  importation  is  plainly  intended  for 
the  Central  Empires.  The  members  of  this  commission  are  men 
of  technical  training  in  custom  duties  and  research  of  a  like  nature. 
There  is  practically  nothing  opinionative  about  their  work,  it 
being  exclusively  a  matter  of  proven  data.  There  is  another  name 
for  this  committee  in  French  terms  that  has  been  abbreviated  to 
the  rather  famous  expression  "S.  S.  S.,"  meaning  Swiss  Society  on 
Economic  Surveillance. 

3.  A  Permanent  International  Committee  of  Economic  Action; 
this  is  composed  of  representatives  of  the  various  allied  govern- 
ments and  met  first  at  Paris  in  June,  1916,  to  adopt  resolutions  for 
an  economic  alliance  between  the  Entente  Allies  that  would  con- 
tinue after  the  war.  It  has  deliberated  and  decided  on  all  matters^ 
relating  to  the  blockade  and  especially  relating  to  questions  diX 
insurance,  black  lists  and  contraband.  It  is  in  effect  the  French 
side  of  several  London  cominittees  supervising  blocka^ej  war 
intelligence  and  insurance. 


-^ 

V 


36  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

It  has  been  impossible,  of  course,  to  keep  strict  lines  of  demarca- 
tion between  the  activities  of  these  three  French  committees,  but 
danger  of  duplication  and  of  conflicting  action  is  reduced  to  a  mini- 
mum by  the  close  supervision  of  Baron  Denys  Cochin  who  is  the 
president  of  all  three  committees. 

It  can  hardly  be  said  that  both  the  London  and  Paris  committees 
are  actuated  by  identical  motives,  although  in  a  general  way  they 
follow  the  lines  which  we  in  this  country  have  adopted  to  conserves 
first  of  all  for  ourselves  the  products  that  we  most  need.  Quite 
naturally,  too,  the  declared  principle  of  conservation  is  used  some- 
times to  serve  a  policy  of  protection  to  home  trade.  I  may  give  you 
the  instance  of  a  certain  country  which  declined  politely  to  discuss 
the  lifting  of  an  embargo  on  its  imports  because  it  claimed  the  right 
to  restrict  purchases  by  its  citizens  on  the  ground  of  public  economy, 
of  conservation  of  wharf  and  railroad  facilities,  of  saving  freight 
handling  and  of  lack  of  ocean  tonnage.  In  the  end,  however,  these 
arguments  were  not  strong  enough  to  conceal  a  powerful  effort  on 
the  part  of  certain  capital  interests  in  that  country  to  build  up  a 
manufacturing  monopoly  in  a  group  of  commodities  which  have 
always  been  imported  heretofore.  The  abuse  is  not  general ;  nor  is  it 
always  inexcusable. 

Our  own  rationing  scheme  is  a  very  simple  matter,  but  not  being 
thoroughly  understood  by  the  public  in  general,  I  make  free  to  de- 
scribe it  as  follows: 

Under  proclamation  by  the  President,  to  whom  power  is  dele- 
gated by  Congress,  the  principle  has  been  adopted  that  we  must 
first  of  all  conserve  our  own  products  where  they  are  most  needed 
by  our  own  people.  Our  surplus — and  we  will  figure  it  liberally — • 
goes  in  just  proportions  to  our  associates  in  the  war,  particularly 
when  their  armies  must  be  served;  out  of  this  surplus  we  must  also 
allot  something  to  the  neutral  nations  of  the  world  where  their 
.loyalty  to  our  cause  is  beyond  question. 

The  policy  underlying  our  conservation  plan  is  given  by  the 
President  to  the  Exports  Council,  composed  of  the  three  Secretaries 
of  State,  Agriculture  and  Commerce,  together  with  the  United 
States  Food  Administrator.  These  oflficials  in  turn  have  each  dele- 
gated a  representative  to  the  formation  of  an  Exports  Administrative 
Board  which  is  instructed  to  collect  all  data  on  the  subject  of  domes- 
tic and  foreign  needs  so  that  a  definite  recommendation  may  be 


International  Rationing  37 

made  by  it,  back  to  the  council.  Under  this  board  exists  a  Bureau 
of  Export  Licenses  that  stands  as  the  clerical  mechanism,  its  duties 
being  to  receive  apphcations  for  export,  pass  them  through  the 
searching  test  of  commodity  and  trading  investigation  and  then  to 
grant  export  licenses  if  the  test  is  survived.  Modifications  or  addi- 
tions to  the  controlled  hst  and  to  the  regulations  pertaining  thereto 
are  deliberated  upon  by  the  Exports  Administrative  Board  and 
transmitted  with  a  recommendation  to  the  Exports  Council  which 
considers  both  the  foreign  and  domestic  policy  involved  and  makes 
its  own  recommendation  to  the  President,  if  the  matter  is  one  of 
international  significance;  whereupon  the  President  renders  a  deci- 
sion which  goes  back  again  over  the  same  track  to  the  Bureau  of 
Export  Licenses  with  instructions  to  act.  Ordinary  export  applica- 
tions go  directly  to  the  clerical  force  and  out  again. 

Another  feature  of  the  rationing  plan  that  attracts  our  attention 
is  the  purchase  by  government  of  a  supply  of  materials  in  the  coun- 
try where  they  originate.  Great  Britain  has  bought  the  entire 
Australian  wool  clip  for  this  year  and  holds  it  subject  to  her  orders. 
She  also  has  purchased  large  amounts  of  raw  sugar  which  are  trans- 
ported to  warehouses  in  England  where  they  are  held  subject  to 
scientific  distribution  to  various  home  refineries,  all  under  agree- 
ment to  furnish  the  refined  article  at  reasonable  prices,  first  to  the 
army  and  then  to  the  public.  The  London  Times  Trade  Supplement 
is  authority  for  the  statement  that  the  following  products  in  sub- 
stantial quantities  are  controlled  by  the  British  government: 


Coffee 

Leather 

Preserved  meat 

Coal 

Maize 

Rubber 

Copra 

Meat 

Sugar 

Diamonds 

Metals 

Tanning  materials 

Feeding  stuffs 

Oil  seed 

Tobacco 

Grain 

Paper 

Wood 

Jute  and  its  fabrics 

Petrol 

Wool 

Control  in  the  United  Kingdom  of  these  commodities  is  exer- 
cised through  the  following  agencies:  Ministry  of  Food,  Army 
Council,  Board  of  Trade,  Ministry  of  Munitions  and  other  semi- 
official committees  such  as  the  Royal  Commission  on  Sugar,  and 
others.  Most  of  the  articles  controlled  are  under  the  jurisdiction  of 
the  Army  Council  whose  authority  issues  from  the  Defense  of  the 
Realm  regulations.     While  the  Army  Council  is  interested  primarily 


38  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

in  war  materials,  so  many  products  are  now  included  under  that  clas- 
sification that  the  Army  Council  may  be  said  to  have  in  charge  the 
majority  of  the  products  controlled  by  the  British  government. 
Whether  this  outcome  is  the  result  of  the  peculiar  operation  of  the 
law  or  of  the  superior  ability  of  the  men  composing  the  committee  is 
unknown  to  me.  Tliis  council  usually  exercises  its  control  by  taking 
possession  of  stocks  existing  in  the  country  and  in  many  cases  fixing 
the  price  for  such  materials,  just  as  our  food  administration  is  em- 
powered by  the  President  to  do. 

At  this  date  the  only  commodities  that  have  been  bought  out- 
right by  the  British  government  at  the  point  of  production  are  wool 
and  sugar.  The  announced  motive  back  of  the  Australian  wool 
purchase  was  the  desire  of  that  government  to  utilize  the  credit 
which  they  possessed  there  for  the  very  immediate  benefit  of  Aus- 
tralia which  stood  in  need  of  ready  fmids,  but  I  am  disposed  to  be- 
lieve that  the  pressing  need  of  this  material  in  all  parts  of  the  world, 
particularly  here,  appealed  to  Great  Britain  as  a  trade  advantage 
which  should  not  be  neglected.  It  follows  naturally  that  the  owners 
of  the  wool  will  apportion  it  with  a  fine  regard  to  reciprocal  advan- 
tages, both  here  and  in  other  countries,  although  I  do  not  mean  to 
say  that  any  sharp  purposes  will  be  served. 

The  same  government  is  also  exercizing  a  rationing  power  over 
the  following  stocks  which  are  held  in  quantity  at  ports  controlled 
by  them,  namely:  mohair,  cotton,  Unen  yarns,  flax,  jute,  hemp,  corn, 
rice,  oils,  seeds,  beans,  peas,  etc.,  pork  and  other  meats,  together 
with  butter,  leather,  copper,  lead,  aluminum,  petroleum,  tin,  rubber, 
coal  tar,  wax  and  cabinet  woods.     The  list  is  increasing  day  by  day. 

To  put  it  briefly,  our  English  relatives  have  given  up  the  notion 
that  non-interference  in  trade  is  essential  to  the  initiative  of  the 
individual  and  his  pros'^erity.  They  have  apparently  conceded 
the  principle  of  governmeiital  control  of  commodities  for  the 
benefit  of  the  nation.  Although  this  means  right  now  a  first 
consideration  of  army  needs,  it  will  mean  very  soon  an  equal 
regard  for  the  needs  of  the  consuming  public.  That  the  plan 
should  be  developed  with  an  eye  to  trading  possibilities  is  also  natural, 
even  though  it  is  a  matter  of  subordinate  importance  for  some  time 
to  come.  If  I  am  a  competent  judge  of  the  situation,  I  may  say 
that  the  powerful  industrial  associations,  to  which  the  British  govern- 
ment has  given  power  of  distribution,  are  in  existence  today  by 


International  Rationing  3d 

reason  of  a  conviction  that  large  and  efiicient  organizations  have 
ceased  to  be  a  public  menace  and  have  become  a  prime  requisite  for 
economic  survival.  Notably  in  Europe  and  less  notably  here, 
aggregations  of  capital  and  cooperative  effort  have  been  found 
necessary  to  the  maintenance  of  national  power  at  home  and  abroad. 

Italy  likewise  has  placed-an  embarg^o  on  the  exportation  of  the 
several  commodities  for  which  she  is  famous  and  they  represent  the 
larger  part  of  her  industrial  activity,  notably  olive  oil,  macaroni, 
tomato  paste,  etc.  With  striking  consistency  she  allows  the  free 
departure  of  citrus  fruits  since  this  is  a  surplus  product  and  has  no 
food  value  as  compared  with  the  other  commodities.  Spain,  too, 
has  embargoed  olive  oil  in  addition  to  other  commodities  which 
are  necessary  for  the  food  and  industrial  activity  of  her  people. 

Unless  this  country  takes  similar  measures  in  the  purchase  or 
control  of  basic  commodities  which  it  does  produce  or  may  purchase, 
we  may  find  ourselves  very  soon  at  the  mercy  of  competing  nations 
that  will  either  starve  us  or  force  us  into  bargains  which  we  do  not 
now  contemplate.  In  a  measure,  but  not  yet  adequate  to  the 
situation,  we  "are  trying  to  establish  our  economic  independence 
by  the  private  purchase  of  certain  raw  materials  in  bulk  from 
Russia,  Spain  and  from  South  American  countries,  by  the  process 
of  an  exchange  for  manufactured  commodities  which  we  turn  out  as 
characteristic  products.  We  are,  however,  seriously  handicapped 
by  the  lack  of  a  merchant  marine  since  we  cannot  provide  transpor- 
tation after  the  deal  in  all  other  particulars  is  made. 

This  is  the  place,  possibly,  to  express  the  opinion  that  when  it 
comes  to  the  final  issue  in  warlike  or  economic  competition,  the 
country  which  can  produce  the  greater  number  of  basic  materials 
has  the  whiphand.  Consequently,  one  may  not  view  with  complete 
satisfaction  a  disproportionate  growth  of  liberal  arts  manufacture. 
It  is  plainly  to  be  seen  that  the  refining  process,  when  dependent  upon 
an  outside  supply  of  raw  material,  is  completely  at  the  mercy  of 
the  countries  which  control  the  raw  material. 

In  the  present  state  of  affairs  we  find  the  exportation  of  raw 
materials  mounting  steadily  since  August  4,  1914.  Are  we  losing 
what  others  are  saving?  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  present  export 
control  will  partly  remedy  the  situation.  Our  importation  of  raw 
materials  for  April  this  year  amounted  to  $94,094,515-,  for  May, 
$108,036,640,  and  for  June,  $114,876,294,  a  steady  increase,  whereas 


I 


40  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

the  exportation  of  finished  products  has  notably  decKned  where  they 
were  destined  for  public  consumption;  military  needs  must,  of  course, 
be  eliminated  for  a  clear  judgment  of  the  normal  exportation. 

The  end  of  the  war  will  not,  in  itself,  expand  the  supply  of 
available  materials.  In  fact,  there  is  every  reason  to  anticipate  a 
greater  disproportion  between  international  needs  and  the  supplies 
on  hand. 

When  we  look  back  at  our  exports  for  the  first  seven  months 
of  1914,  covering  breadstuff s,  cotton  seed  oil,  cattle,  hogs  and  sheep, 
meat  and  dairy  products,  cotton  and  mineral  oils,  we  find  a  total  of 
$494,294,000.  This  is  in  great  contrast  to  the  total  for  the  same 
seven  months  of  1916  amounting  to  $783,981,000;  an  increase  of  80 
per  cent.  Consult,  if  you  please,  the  identical  total  covering  these 
commodities  for  the  first  seven  months  of  1917  and  you  find  a  matter 
of  $1,007,065,000,  or  an  increase  of  approximately  225  per  cent  on 
the  figures  for  1913,  when  we  considered  conditions  fairly  normal. 
Have  we  been  squandering  the  riches  of  our  land  without  much 
regard  for  the  need  of  future  generations?  Such  excuse  as  we  have 
today  as  purveyors  of  materials  absolutely  necessary  to  the  main- 
tenance of  our  associates  in  the  war,  did  not  exist  prior  to  April,  1917. 

The  industrial  property  and  homes  that  will  have  to  be  restored 
to  normal  activity  and  usefulness  after  the  war  will  mean  a  much 
greater  drain  on  the  world's  resources  than  is  now  taking  place  on 
account  of  war  requirements.  In  France  alone,  devastated  territory 
must  be  built  up  to  the  extent  of  millions  upon  millions  of  dollars. 
In  Belgium  an  even  more  extensive  restoration  must  be  made. 
When  one  thinks  of  the  materials  which  will  be  requisitioned  for 
these  two  territories  alone,  one  is  justified  in  wondering  whether  any 
price  will  be  too  high  to  pay  for  any  material. 

What  result  will  the  present  and  future  expenditure  of  basic 
materials  have  on  the  market  supply,  if  they  are  not  regulated? 
Very  plainlj'^  a  speedy  exhaustion  of  the  available  stocks.  Before 
this  situation  actually  arrives,  every  nation  will,  I  think,  automati- 
cally adopt  a  system  of  embargo  on  exports,  subject  first  to  the 
needs  of  its  people  and  second  to  the  exchange  possibilities  which 
other  nations  afford. 

It  may  be  expected  that  an  economic  alliance  of  the  entire 
world  will  eventually  come  about  by  the  process  of  one  nation  pairing 
with  another  and  those  two  combining  with  others  until  a  large 


International  Rationing  41 

aggregation  of  them  acts  as  a  single  comprehensive  family.  If  they 
eventually  join  hands  covering  the  entire  earth,  wherever  civiliza- 
tion is  in  authority,  they  will  be  doing  nothing  more  or  less  than 
what  priiTiitive  peoples  accomplished  by  instinct  in  a  smaller  way. 
I  refer  to  the  community  relations  between  family,  clan  and  tribe. 

Even  before  our  entrance  into  the  war  the  Entente  AlUes  pro- 
posed an  economic  alliance,  comprising  all  the  war  associates  on 
their  side  of  the  conflict,  for  operation  following  the  end  of  hostilities. 
This  proposal  has  serious  defects,  however,  inasmuch  as  it  is  based 
almost  wholly  on  belligerent  motives  and  is  in  defiance  of  the  funda- 
mental laws  which  have  compelled  commerce  as  far  back  as  we  can 
see.  I  cannot  conceive  that  French  manufacturers,  as  an  example, 
can  survive  international  competition  if  they  are  forced  arbitrarily 
to  buy  from  Italy  or  England  or  Russia  or  from  this  country  mate- 
rials that  may,  on  the  other  hand,  be  laid  at  their  doors  over  night  by 
a  short  railroad  haul  from  Germany.  Propinquity  in  commerce  is  a 
cardinal  advantage,  and  is  not  easily  overridden. 

As  I  have  said,  one  may  anticipate  that  rationing  committees 
will  appear  by  government  order  in  all  countries.  Supplementary 
to  a  home  committee  or  organization  for  the  apportionment  of 
domestic  products  we  might  have  in  Italy  an  expert  in  olive  oils 
whose  duty  it  is  to  purchase  for  dealers  in  the  United  States 
such  quantities  as  the  Italian  government  allows  to  go  out 
to  us;  and  a  marble  expert  and  a  silk  expert  are  every  bit  as 
probable.  These  representatives  would  naturally  resolve  into 
a  buying  commission,  whose  further  part  it  would  be  to  secure 
from  our  own  country  such  commodities  in  exchange  as  Italy  might 
want  for  herself.  Likewise,  Italy  would  have  her  commission 
on  this  side.  In  each  country  it  would  be  necessary  to  establish  a 
banking  credit,  to  the  end  that  said  credit,  if  one  eventuates,  will  be 
remittable  to  the  side  whose  purchases  are  short,  unless  the  credit  is 
ordered  to  stand  against  further  purchases — a  very  probable  out- 
come. The  stabilizing  of  monetary  exchange,  so  essential  to  peace- 
ful commerce,  would  thereby  become  comparatively  automatic. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  vast  purchases  from  Russia  have  been  and  are 
being  consmnmated  by  such  a  process  at  this  time,  with  the  financial 
service  performed  by  American  banks,  as  one  might  expect. 

We  must  disabuse  our  minds  of  the  notion,  held  unconsciously 
or  as  a  principle  of  faith,  that  trading  beyond  our  own  boundaries  is 


42  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

abnormal  or  of  importance  secondary  to  domestic  trading.  Ocean- 
borne  commerce  constitutes  the  bulk  of  all  trading  for  many  Euro- 
pean countries,  notably  Great  Britain  and  Germany.  The  foreign 
trade  of  the  first  country  for  1913,  the  year  prior  to  the  war, 
amounted  to  $5,451,000,000;  thatof  Germany  figures  $4,966,000,000. 
That  our  own  foreign  trade  ranked  third  after  both  those  countries, 
with  a  figure  of  $4,278,000,000,  proves  to  my  mind  not  so  much 
the  success  of  our  foreign  trade  enterprise  as  it  does  indicate  the 
tremendous  quantities  of  raw  materials  which  European  nations  seek 
from  this  part  of  the  North  American  continent.  Although  it  is 
true  that  our  finished  products  have  been  in  the  ascendency,  never- 
theless it  is  to  be  noted  that  the  component  materials  thereof  origi- 
nated very  largely  in  the  soil  of  this  country.  Of  course,  it  is  cheaper 
in  many  instances  for  the  European  purchasers  to  take  materials  in 
their  refined  forms  than  it  is  to  import  the  raw  products  in  gross  bulk, 
at  a  great  expense  for  freight  and  handling,  and  to  then  refine  it  on 
the  other  side. 

I  believe  that  the  era  of  international  rationing  has  arrived  and 
that  our  own  government  must  very  soon  recognize  the  instinctive 
need  of  new  organization,  both  at  home  and  abroad,  to  plan  and 
maintain  a  constant  supply  of  prime  necessities.  In  the  past, 
foreign  relations  have  depended  very  largely  on  the  pohtical  fancy 
of  rulers,  whether  they  be  part  of  an  autocratic,  or  monarchical,  or 
repubhcan  regime.  They  may  be  expected  sooner  or  later  to  follow 
the  lines  of  economic  association  as  dictated  by  the  needs  of  the 
people. 


INTRODUCTORY 

By  Carl  P.  Hubscher, 
Secretary  of  Swiss  Legation,  Washington,  D.  C. 

It  would  mean  carrying  coal  to  Newcastle  should  I,  as  a  neutral 
diplomat  whose  thoughts  are  naturally  concentrated  upon  the 
immediate  needs  of  his  country,  attempt  to  add  anything  to  the 
discussion,  the  more  so  as  my  friend,  Professor  Rappard,  has  in  a 
masterly  manner,  elsewhere  explained  to  you  the  position  of  Switzer- 
land to  the  food  question. 

I  may,  however,  ask  your  indulgence  if  I  call  to  your  attention 
the  reasons  why  we  representatives  of  foreign  countries  must  be 
deeply  indebted  to  the  American  Academy  of  Political  and  Social 
Science  for  having  been  given  this  opportunity  to  discuss  the  food 
question  in  an  informal  manner. 

I  have  been  connected  with  international  affairs  for  many 
years  and  have  been  struck  by  the  fact  that,  upon  careful  examina- 
tion, we  may  find  that  the  true  root  and  origin  of  many  interna- 
tional complications  is  too  often  mere  misunderstanding — the 
sheer  inability  of  both  sides  to  comprehend  the  national  character 
and  ideals  of  one  another — too  often,  also,  negotiators  are  unable  to 
divorce  their  personal  feelings  from  their  obUgations  as  represent- 
atives of  their  respective  nations. 

In  private  life  we  observe  that  after  a  heart  to  heart  talk, 
persons  who  have  bitterly  differed  separate  perhaps  not  as  friends, 
but  at  least  with  a  better  understanding  of  each  other's  viewpoint. 

The  same  is  true  in  international  life.  Once  the  good  will  and 
desire  is  present  to  compose  a  misunderstanding  by  a  free  and 
open  discussion,  a  solution  of  even  a  complicated  international 
dispute  may  always  be  found. 

To  attain  this  end  is  necessary  not  only  the  more  formal  diplo- 
matic negotiations,  but  also  just  such  an  open  forum  as  the  American 
Academy  of  PoUtical  and  Social  Science  has  arranged  for  the  in- 
formal discussion  of  the  food  question. 

This  occasion  provided  by  the  Academy  has  made  it  possible 

43 


44  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

to  present  to  the  American  public  the  views  of  foreign  countries  on 
the  food  embargo,  and  no  one  knows  better  than  the  citizens  of  the 
oldest  republic  in  existence,  Switzerland,  that  in  the  people  them- 
selves lies  the  ultimate  verdict,  and  that  is  why  we  Swiss  and  we 
neutrals  are  justified  in  the  assumption  that  a  just  solution  of  the 
food  embargo  will  be  found  in  the  United  States. 


THE  FOOD   SITUATION   OF   NORWAY 

By  Fridtjof  Nansen,  D.Sc,  D.C.L., 
Minister  Plenipotentiary  of  Norway  on  Special  Mission. 

In  spite  of  its  great  extension,  Norway  has  not  more  than  two 
and  one-half  million  inhabitants.  Our  countr}^  thus  has  one  of  the 
smallest  populations  of  any  country  in  Europe  though  Norway  is 
one  of  the  oldest  kingdoms  existing.  Though  we  are  small  our 
history  may,  however,  be  said  to  have  proved  that  the  Norwegian 
people  possess  some  good  qualities,  ever  since  the  days  when  the 
Norsemen  were  the  first  to  cross  the  Atlantic  Ocean  and  reach  the 
shores  of  the  new  world  where  they  established  permanent  colonies 
in  Greenland.  The  Norsemen  were,  and  are  still,  a  strong  race  with 
a  high  degree  of  vitality  which  is  proved  for  instance  by  the  unusu- 
ally low  death  rate  in  our  country.  For  this  and  other  reasons  our 
people  have  during  the  last  century  increased  in  number  more  than 
any  other  European  people.  The  increase  of  our  population  was  on 
the  basis  of  100  to  254.  If  it  had  not  been  for  the  emigration,  espec- 
ially to  this  country,  this  increase  would  have  been  much  greater. 
We  have  the  doubtful  honor  of  being  that  European  country  which 
next  to  Ireland  has  sent  comparatively  most  emigrants  across  the 
ocean.  In  the  latter  half  of  the  past  century  one-half  million  people 
left  Norway  and  in  the  ten  years  from  1901  to  1910  no  less  than 
190,000  left  the  country.  In  many  years  the  emigration  was  more 
than  half  the  increase  by  birth  and  in  some  years  even  more  than 
the  whole  increase  by  birth.  There  are  now  said  to  be  in  this 
country  one  and  one-half  million  Norwegians  of  the  first  and  second 
generation. 

The  important  question  in  connection  with  the  subject  inter- 
esting us  at  present  is:  How  do  the  people  of  Norway  live?  What 
are  their  means  of  existence? 


The  Food  Situation  of  Norway  -     45 

At  all  times  agriculture  and  dairy  farming  or  animal  industry 
were  by  far  the  most  important  means  of  existence  in  Norway,  The 
average  value  of  the  yearly  agricultural  production  may  be  esti- 
mated to  amount  to  something  like  two  hundred  million  kroner,  or 
between  two  hundred  and  two  hundred  and  fifty  millions. 

A  very  important  industry  of  the  Norwegian  people  is  the 
lumber  trade.  The  total  value  of  the  production  of  this  trade  is 
not  easy  to  estimate  as  so  much  of  it  is  used  at  home  on  the  farms. 
But  the  average  value  of  the  yearly  export  of  the  production  of  the 
forests  was  in  the  years  1906  to  1910  about  eighty  million  kroner. 

Our  fisheries  are  naturally  also  of  great  importance  and  cer- 
tainly not  less  so  in  late  years.  The  value  of  the  total  catch  of  fish 
considered  as  raw  material  was  for  instance  in  1910,  sixty-eight 
million  kroner,  the  value  of  our  whaling  fisheries  being  included. 
The  export  value  of  our  fish  and  fish  products  is  naturally  con- 
siderably higher. 

Especially  in  late  years,  manufacturing  industry  has  become 
a  very  important  factor  in  our  national  economy.  In  1910,  for 
instance,  the  value  of  our  export  of  industrial  products,  mining 
products  not  included,  was  one  hundred  and  ten  million  kroner. 
Here,  however,  are  included  certain  products  of  the  lumber  trade 
such  as  pulp,  chemical  pulp  and  paper.  But  the  export  of  industrial 
products  has  increased  very  much  for  every  year  after  1910. 

Finally  may  be  mentioned  our  shipping,  which  is  of  very  great 
importance  to  the  Norwegian  people  and,  I  may  say,  also  to  several 
other  nations,  and  certainly  not  less  so  during  this  war.  The  Nor- 
wegians were  always  a  seafaring  nation  ever  since  the  days  when  our 
ancestors  were  the  horror  of  the  coasts  of  Europe,  until  this  day 
when  we  are  a  preeminently  peaceful  people  and  wish  to  remain  so. 
though  it  cannot  be  denied  perhaps  that  still  a  little  of  the  old 
adventurous  spirit  is  burning  in  us. 

Our  poet  Bjornson  has  said:  "Vor  acre  og  vor  magt  har  hvite 
sell  OS  hragV  (i.e., our  honor  and  our  position  we  owe  to  our  white 
sails).  This  is  largely  true  even  today  though  our  white  sails  have 
now  to  a  great  extent  been  replaced  by  the  black  smoke  of  our 
steamers. 

Though,  as  I  said  before,  agriculture  is  the  most  important 
industry  of  the  Norwegian  people,  the  agricultural  production  must 
not  be  expected  to  amount  to  very  great  quantities  for  it  has  to  be 


46  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

considered  that  only  2^  per  cent  of  our  land  area  is  cultivated.  If 
we  also  include  in  this  calculation  natural  grass  fields  not  ploughed, 
we  reach  about  4  per  cent.  This  may  seem  a  very  small  proportion 
of  a  country  supposed  to  be  inhabited  by  a  civilized  people;  but  it 
has  to  be  considered  that  about  70  per  cent  of  our  extensive  land 
area  is  occupied  by  mountains,  snow  mountains,  glaciers  and  entirely 
barren  ground.  About  21  per  cent  of  the  total  area  is  covered  with 
forest.  Also  in  this  respect — the  very  small  percentage  of  cultivated 
area — our  country  is  unique  amongst  European  countries.  For  the 
sake  of  comparison  I  may  mention  the  following  figures. 

Finland  is  the  country  that  comes  next  to  us  with  a  cultivated 
area  of  between  10  and  11  per  cent  of  the  total  land  surface;  then 
comes  Sweden  with  12  per  cent.  Very  different  are  the  conditions 
in  Denmark  where  73  per  cent  of  the  total  land  area  is  cultivated. 
It  is  also  of  interest  to  notice  that  in  mountainous  Switzerland  the 
cultivated  land  is  56  per  cent  of  the  total  area. 

Though  very  much  has  been  done  in  order  to  develop  our 
agriculture  in  every  respect,  it  has  not  been  possible  to  increase  its 
production  at  the  same  rate  as  the  population  has  been  growing. 
Nevertheless,  our  agriculture  may  be  said  to  have  a  fairly  high 
standing.  The  cultivated  ground  yields, "  for  instance,  a  much 
greater  crop  per  acre  than  in  most  countries.  This  is  largely  due 
to  our  small  holdings  causing  the  soil  to  be  better  worked  and  ma- 
nured. As,  however,  our  cultivated  area  is  comparatively  so  small, 
we  are  not  able  to  produce  more  than  a  certam  portion  of  the  grain 
we  need  for  living.  This  portion  varies  naturally  somewhat  with  the 
harvest  in  the  different  years,  but  on  the  average  it  has  lately  been 
between  one-third  and  one-half  of  the  total  amount  we  need.  We 
have  therefore  had  to  import  all  the  way  from  an  equal  quantity  to 
double  as  much  as  we  produce  ourselves. 

As  an  illustration  it  may  be  mentioned  that  during  the  three 
last  years  before  the  war,  1911  to  1913,  our  total  import  of  grain 
and  flour  of  all  kinds  (not  including  Indian  corn  chiefly  for  feeding 
animals)  was  on  the  average  of  425,000  tons  while  our  home  pro- 
duction of  grain  during  these  years  averaged  311,259  tons. 

In  the  three  years  1914  to  1916,  that  is  during  the  war,  the 
average  import  reached  only  the  amount  of  389,536  tons  while  our 
home  production  averaged  303,314  tons.  It  is  thus  seen  that  our 
import  of  grain  as  well  as  our  home  production  has  been  less  during 
the  years  of  the  war  than  before  this  time. 


The  Food  Sittjation  of  Norway  47 

In  the  figures  of  our  home  production  just  given  our  crop  of 
potatoes  has  not  been  included.  If  this  be  done  the  proportion 
between  home  production  and  import  for  human  food  will  be  some- 
what different.  In  order  to  make  the  figures  comparable,  the 
nutritious  value  of  the  potatoes  as  well  as  that  of  the  different 
kinds  of  grain  has  to  be  transferred  to  the  value  of  one  special  kind 
of  grain  as  a  standard,  and  in  our  statistics  barley  has  been  chosen 
for  this  purpose.  In  order  to  give  an  impression  of  the  change 
which  has  taken  place  in  the  proportion  between  home  production 
and  imports  the  figures  obtained  for  a  few  different  years  may  be 
useful. 

Home  Production  Import 

About  1855  75.0  per  cent  25.0  per  cent 

"     1900  42.9  per  cent  57.1  per  cent 

"     1911  38.8  per  cent  61.2  per  cent 

"     1914-16  42.3  per  cent  57.7  per  cent 

It  will  thus  be  understood  that  the  proportion  of  the  home 
production  as  compared  with  thie  import  of  grain  has  been  con- 
stantly sinking  during  this  time  until  about  1911  or  the  years  before 
the  war,  but  during  the  war  it  has  again  been  somewhat  increased. 
This  is  due  to  our  natural  desire  to  decrease  our  dependency  on  the 
import  of  grain  as  much  as  possible.  The  land  area  cultivated  has 
been  increased,  especially  this  year,  and  our  government  has  stimu- 
lated the  agricultural  production  in  every  possible  way  by  allotting 
free  soil,  by  minimum  prices,  by  importing  fertilizers  and  reselling 
them  at  a  sacrifice,  etc.  We  therefore  hoped  that  this  year's  crop 
would  be  essentially  increa^sed  from  what  it  has  been  in  former  years 
and  the  outlook  early  in  the  summer  was  also  quite  good;  but  a 
very  long  and  continuous  period  of  drought  has  spoiled  our  good 
prospects  and,  as  I  now  have  learned,  much  rain  during  the  collect- 
ing of  the  crop,  which  is  now  going  on,  has  caused  serious  difficulties. 

If  we  take  our  imports  of  grain  and  our  home  production,  the 
total  average  quantity  of  grain  and  flour  available  for  consumption 
during  the  years  1911  to  1916  has  been  715,000  tons  per  year.  We 
might  thus  calculate  the  consumption  at  60,000  tons  per  month, 
but  here  is  also  included  seed  as  well  as  grain  used  for  feeding  ani- 
mals. After  having  deducted  the  quantities  necessary  for  these 
purposes,  and  considering  that  our  population  is  two  and  one-half 
million  inhabitants,  we  find  that  during  the  six  years  1911  to  1916 


48  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

the  consumption  of  grain  per  head  averaged  232  kilograms,  or 
about  600  grams  per  day. 

Before  the  war  we  received  our  greater  part  of  grain  and  flour 
from  Russia,  Germany  and  Roumania.  From  the  United  States  we 
only  received  a  comparatively  small  portion  which  in  the  years 
1911  to  1913  averaged  8  per  cent  of  our  total  imports.  In  1914  it 
was  increased  to  43  per  cent  which  means  that  after  the  outbreak 
of  the  war  in  August  the  United  States  supplied  us  with  practically 
all  the  grain  and  flour  imported.  In  1915  United  States  sent  us 
98  per  cent  and  in  1916,  99  per  cent  of  our  total  import  of  grain. 

Though  it  is  unnecessary,  I  may  still  mention  here  that  we 
have  naturally  had  no  export  of  grain  either  before  or  after  the 
outbreak  of  the  war,  with  the  exception  of  some  diminutive  quan- 
tities confined  almost  exclusively  to  a  little  grain  and  flour  sent  to 
the  Pomors  or  inhabitants  of  northern  Russia  on  the  Kola  Peninsula 
and  a  little  trade  across  the  frontier  to  the  nearest  districts  of 
Sweden.  There  is  of  course-  prohibition  against  all  exports  of  grain 
and  cereals  and  no  licenses  are  given  for  this  frontier  trade,  except 
in  accordance  with  the  agreement  with  Great  Britain. 

The  different  kinds  of  grain  as  well  as  potatoes  are  naturally 
the  chief  sources  of  the  carbohydrates  necessary  for  the  sustenance 
of  the  Norwegian  people.  But  in  this  connection  ought  also  to 
be  mentioned  sugar,  though  of  less  importance.  No  sugar  is 
raised  in  Norway,  and  we  therefore  have  to  import  all  we  need, 
which  has  on  the  average  amounted  to  between  49,000  and  55,000 
tons  of  sugar  a  year,  corresponding  to  a  consumption  of  about  50 
grams  per  individual  per  day,  or  something  like  20  kilograms  in  a 
year.  This  is  much  less  than  most  other  people  consume.  Of  course 
we  do  not  export  sugar,  except  some  few  tons,  80  or  90  tons,  that 
go  across  the  frontier  in  the  same  way  as  the  grain  before  mentioned. 

Having  thus  mentioned  the  quantities  of  food  containing  carbo- 
hydrates consumed  by  the  Norwegian  people,  I  now  propose  to 
discuss  another  important  part  of  the  food,  namely  the  fats.  I 
may  then  first  point  out  in  general  that  the  investigations  on  the 
nutrition  of  the  Norwegian  people  show  that  their  consumption 
of  fats  is  relatively  great  as  compared  with  that  of  the  more 
southern  nations  of  Europe.  This  is  naturally  explained  by  the 
climate  of  our  country  and  by  the  hard  work  of  the  people  and 
their  way  of  living.     The  average  low  temperature  and  the  long 


The  Food  Situation  of  Norway  49 

winter  make  a  greater  production  of  the  heat  of  the  body  necessary 
and  besides  this  it  is  also  to  be  considered  that  a  comparatively 
great  proportion  of  the  men,  fishermen,  laborers  in  the  forest,  etc., 
have  very  hard  work  in  the  open  air  under  severe  climatic  condi- 
tions. And  it  is  a  well-known  experience  that  under  such  circum- 
stances the  increased  need  of  food  has  chiefly  to  be  covered  by  fats. 
The  average  consumption  of  fat  by  a  man  in  our  country  who 
has  not  hard  work,  amounts  to  about  100  grams  of  fat  per  day.  By 
harder  work  his  consumption  is  increased  to  130  to  150  grams,  and 
by  work  in  the  woods  during  the  winter  it  is  increased  to  200  grams 
per  day,  a  great  portion  of  our  men  being  engaged  in  this  kind  of 
work,  especially  in  eastern  Norway.  This  consumption  of  fat  may 
be  said  to  agree  well  with  the  conditions  in  the  United  States  and 
Canada.  According  to  his  investigations  on  the  food  of  the  people 
in  the  United  States  and  Canada,  Professor  Atwater,  in  his  book 
Methods  and  Results  of  Investigations  on  the  Chemistry  and  Economy 
of  Food,  calculates  that  the  consumption  of  fat  per  individual  should 
be  about  158.5  grams  per  day.  Assuming  that  the  population  of 
Norway,  somewhat  more  than  two  and  one-half  million  inhabitants, 
corresponds  to  a  little  more  than  two  million  of  what  might  be 
called  standard  men,  and  if  we  further  assume  that  these  standard 
men  need  only  100  grams  of  fat  per  day,  this  will  make  a  consump- 
tion of  about  74,400  tons  of  fat  for  the  whole  of  Norway  per  year. 
This  quantity  is,  however,  a  minimum.  As  I  said  before,  a  great 
part  of  the  population  of  Norway  has  hard  work  at  comparatively 
low  temperatures  which  will  naturally  increase  the  craving  for  fat, 
and  if  we  increase  the  consumption  of  fat,  for  instance  with  30 
grams  per  day,  it  will  make  the  quantity  of  fat  needed  for  feeding 
Norwegian  people  in  the  year  as  much  as  96,725  tons. 

A  careful  calculation  of  Norway's  production  of  fat  which  can 
be  used  for  human  food  shows  that  it  is  about  53,700  tons  per  year 
on  the  average.  In  this  quantity  is  included  the  fat  of  animals, 
cattle,  sheep,  swine  about  15,000  tons,  fat  of  milk  and  milk  products 
— butter,  cheese,  etc. — with  about  35,500  tons.  Herring  oil  which 
is  not  used  for  human  food  is  not  included,  but  on  the  other  hand, 
the  fat  contained  in  fresh  and  salted  fish  from  the  home  fisheries  is 
included  in  our  calculation.  All  figures  are  calculated  as  net  values, 
i.e.,  the  quantity  that  is  really  available  in  the  human  organism. 

If  we  take  the  calculation  of  our  needs  based  upon  100  grams 


60  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

of  fat  per  day  per  each  standard  man,  Norway  will  have  a  deficit 
of  about  21,000  tons  of  fat  per  year  which  has  to  be  imported.  This 
is,  as  pointed  out  before,  a  minimum.  With  the  consumption  of 
130  grams  per  man  per  day  the  deficit  will  be  43,000  tons.  If 
we  now  look  at  our  imports  of  fats  and  oils  for  human  food  we 
find  that  they  agree  very  well  with  this  more  theoretical  calcula- 
tion. In  the  three  years  1911  to  1913  our  average  yearly  import  of 
fats  was  21,000  tons.  In  the  three  years  during  the  war,  1914  to 
1916,  the  average  import  was  somewhat  higher,  namely  26,400  tons. 
If  we  take  the  imports  for  each  year  we  find,  however,  that  they 
were  on  the  whole  increasing  somewhat  even  before  the  war.  The 
increased  import  of  fat  after  the  outbreak  of  the  war  is  also  to  a 
great  extent  explained  by  the  decrease  in  our  supplies  of  meat  and 
pork,  which  decrease  was  very  considerable  if  we  consider  the  dif- 
ference in  import  of  live  stock  and  our  home  production. 

If  it  be  considered  that  the  quantities  of  fats  mentioned  are 
not  net  values,  it  will  easily  be  understood  that  the  people  of  Norway 
are  decidedly  not  overfed,  in  regard  to  fat. 

There  still  remains  a  very  important  part  of  foodstuffs  and 
that  is  everything  belonging  to  what  is  called  with  a  general  name — • 
protein — contained  chiefly  in  meat,  fish,  and  also  to  some  extent  in 
grain.  If  we  take  it  that  each  individual  will  want  about  the  same 
daily  ration  of  protein  as  fat  it  means  that  the  yearly  consumption 
of  protein  should  also  be  about  74,000  tons.  Of  this  we  produce 
about  70,000  tons  ourselves  and  consequently  we  should  only  be 
4,000  tons  short  in  this  respect,  a  shortage  which  may  easily  be 
covered. 

I  have  described  the  situation  of  the  Norwegian  people  as  to 
their  food  supplies  and  have  tried  to  give  you  an  idea  of  what  we 
actually  must  import  from  abroad  in  order  to  live  without  suffering. 
Of  course  there  are  also  many  other  things  which  we  must  import, 
for  instance,  material  for  our  shipbuilding,  raw  material  for  our  man- 
ufacturing industry,  manufactures  of  various  kinds,  etc.,  which  also 
are  very  necessary  for  our  existence  as  a  nation,  but  which  now, 
when  it  is  a  question  of  to  be  or  not  to  be,  are  not  so  important  as 
the  food. 

The  next  question  now  is  how  the  Norwegian  people  can  obtain 
the  means  to  cover  the  deficit  in  the  balance  of  trade  caused  by  the 
importation  of  these  foodstuffs  and  other  necessary  articles. 


pi  The  Food  Situation  of  Norway  51 

For  this  purpose  our  fisheries  are  naturally  of  great  importance 
producing  some  of  our  chief  products  of  export.  Altogether  the 
value  of  the  exported  products  of  our  fisheries  averaged  before  the 
war  about  100  million  kroner  a  year.  Besides  England  and  Ger- 
many, Spain  and  Italy  were  very  important  markets  for  our  fishery 
products  before  the  war.  During  the  war  these  markets  have  to  a 
great  extent  been  closed  to  us  owing  to  the  difficulty  with  tonnage. 
Our  chief  market  now  is  England  and  also  Germany.  But  I  may 
mention  that  our  export  to  Germany  is  now  carried  on  in  strict 
accordance  with  agreements  with  England,  not  allowing  us  to 
export  more  than  a  certain  proportion  of  our  catch  to  her  enemy. 

The  products  of  our  lumber  trade  consisting  of  timber,  sawn 
timber,  planed  wood,  manufactures  of  wood,  pulp,  chemical  pulp, 
paper,  etc.,  are  naturally  also  of  much  importance  for  our  balance 
of  trade. 

But  besides  this  the  exportation  of  products  of  the  various 
other  branches  of  our  manufacturing  industry  becomes  every  year 
more  and  more  important  as  was  pointed  out  before.  The  export 
of  our  industrial  products  gave  in  1910  an  income  of  one  hundred 
and  fourteen  and  one-half  million  kroner,  and  this  value  has  been 
substantially  increased  during  recent- years.  The  chief  buyers  of 
these  industrial  products  during  the  war  have  without  comparison 
been  England  and  her  aUies,  and  our  electro-chemical  production 
has  been  especially  valuable.  This  industry,  used  to  a  great  extent 
to  produce  raw  material  for  the  agricultural  and  manufacturing 
industry  of  Germany,  has  during  the  war  more  and  more  become 
producer  for  England  and  her  allies,  especially  France.  The  prod- 
ucts we  send  them  have  been,  as  I  understand  it,  of  the  very  greatest 
importance.  I  may  as  an  example  mention  the  ammonium-nitrate 
sent  to  England,  and  especially  to  France.  I  may  also  mention 
other  products  as  for  instance  cyanamid  and  also  aluminum. 
According  to  what  I  have  been  told,  a  reduction  or  a  stop  of  the 
exportation  of  these  products  would  mean  a  very  serious  loss  for 
your  allies. 

There  is  still  left  one  branch  of  trade  which  is  of  the  very 
greatest  importance  for  our  balance  of  trade,  and  that  is  our  ship- 
ping. In  order  to  give  you  an  idea  of  how  matters  stand  in  this 
respect  I  may  tell  you  that  the  average  value  of  our  imports  in  the 
four  years  from  1911  to  1914  inclusive  was  five  hundred  and  sixty-one 


52  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

million  kroner,  while  the  average  value  of  exports  during  the  same 
years  was  three  hundred  and  ninety-one  million  kroner.  This  makes 
an  average  deficit  of  one  hundred  and  seventy  million  kroner  which 
is  chiefly  covered  by  our  shipping.  This  shipping  has  during  the  war 
naturally  to  a  great  extent  been  directed  to  the  shores  of  England 
and  her  allies  as  well  as  to  this  country,  and — as  you  are  probably 
aware — there  has  been  and  still  is  a  great  portion  of  our  fleet  sailing 
between  United  States  and  the  West  Indies  and  South  America  and 
also  on  your  Pacific  coast.  Our  shipping  between  Great  Britain 
and  her  allies  was  not  considered  with  friendly  eyes  by  the  Germans, 
and  their  U-boat  warfare  has  to  a  very  great  extent  been  directed 
against  our  shipping,  and  our  losses  have  therefore  been  heavier 
than  those  of  any  other  neutral  nation  and  I  believe  also  greater 
than  the  losses  of  this  great  country  until  now.  I  cannot  give  you 
the  exact  figures  at  this  moment,  but  I  do  not  say  too  much  when 
I  say  that  one-third  of  our  commercial  fleet  has  been  destroyed. 
It  means  that  about  one  million  Norwegian  tons  have  been  sunk 
and  about  700  Norwegian  sailors,  or  now  probably  more,  have  been 
killed.  In  spite  of  this  the  Germans  have  not  been  able  to  terrify 
the  Norwegian  sailors.  I  was  told  of  only  one  instance  when  a 
Norwegian  sailor  refused  to  go  because  the  ship  was  going  to  the 
war-zone.  The  consul  in  that  port  told  him  that  he  was  very  sorry 
to  hear  it  because  it  was  the  first  instance  in  his  experience  that  a 
Norwegian  sailor  had  refused  to  go  because  he  was  afraid.  The  sailor 
said  nothing,  went  on  board  and  did  his  duty. 

I  saw  a  report  the  other  day  of  the  sinking  of  a  Norwegian 
vessel  off  the  English  coast.  One  of  the  surviving  sailors  was  ex- 
amined before  the  maritime  court  in  London,  and  was  asked  whether 
he  had  been  sunk  before.  He  answered  that  this  was  the  sixth  time. 
On  the  suggestion  of  the  judge  that  now  he  had  probably  got  enough 
of  it,  he  declared  that  he  was  of  course  going  out  again  as  soon  as 
he  could  find  a  new  employment. 

But  the  destruction  of  our  commercial  fleet  is  constantly  going 
on,  and  if  this  lasts  very  long  the  prospects  are  that  it  will  be 
entirely  destroyed.  The  Norwegians  will  no  more  belong  to  the 
seafaring  nations — we  who  used  to  have  the  third  commercial  fleet 
in  the  world.  We  came  next  after  England  and  the  United  States 
and  were  only  in  late  years  surpassed  by  Germany. 

I  have  tried  to  give  you  an  idea  of  the  situation  and  the  needa 


South  America's  Available  Food  Supply  53 

of  the  Norwegian  people.  We  are  a  small  nation,  that  is  true,  of 
no  great  consequence  in  the  world  perhaps,  whatever  we  ourselves 
may  think,  but  still  we  are  a  nation,  and  we  beg  for  nothing,  we 
only  ask  for  our  right  to  exist.  We  consider  it  our  duty  to  remain 
neutral  and  do  our  best  to  keep  out  of  the  war.  We  think  that  in 
this  way  we  may  also  do  the  greatest  service  to  the  world. 
We  are  of  those  who,  in  spite  of  all. 

Never  doubted  clouds  would  break, 

Never  dreamed,  though  rights  were  worsted,  wrong  would  triumph. 

Held  we  fall  to  rise,  are  baffled  to  fight  better. 

Sleep  to  wake. 

May  all  humanity  awaken  after  this  terrible  crisis — I  think  the 
most  serious  one  in  the  whole  history  of  the  world — may  we  awaken 
to  see  that  there  is  one  great  purpose  in  life  and  that  is  not  destruc- 
tion of  others,  it  is  development  of  oneself,  of  all  one's  possibilities; 
that  there  is  one  high  ideal  of  existence.  Its  name  is  not  power,  its 
name  is  justice! 


SOUTH   AMERICA'S   AVAILABLE   FOOD   SUPPLY 

By  His  Excellency,  Senor  Don  Ignacio  Calderon, 
The  Bolivian  Minister. 

All  know  that  South  America  is  a  very  vast  continent,  full  of 
possibilities  and  great  in  resources,  where  ten  independent  republics 
are  established,  each  one  with  its  own  characteristics;  therefore, 
to  speak  of  South  America  as  a  unit  is  misleading  and  inaccurate. 

For  instance,  if  we  say  th,at  South  America  produces  a  great 
deal  of  wheat,  it  would  mean  that  wheat  is  produced  for  export  in 
all  the  countries.  That  is  not  the  case.  Wheat  is  not  produced  for 
export  except  in  Argentine.  If  we  say  that  tin  is  exported  from 
South  America,  we  also  make  a  wrong  statement,  because  tin  is 
produced  only  in  Bolivia,  which  gives  to  the  world  one-third  of  the 
production  of  that  mineral.  Therefore,  it  is  not  correct  to  say  that 
tin  is  produced  in  South  America. 

I  am  going  to  give  you  a  review  of  the  exportable  food  resources 
of  each  of  the  countries  in  South  America. 

Agriculture  is  not  very  much  developed  in  those  republics 


54  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

for  the  simple  reason  that  they  are  wanting  in  means  of  easy  and 
cheap  transportation,  which  is  an  element  very  important  in  agri- 
culture. Argentine  is  the  only  country  in  South  America  that, 
because  of  its  advantageous  geographical  position  and  the  lack  of 
mountains,  being  entirely  flat,  and  because  it  receives  thousands  of 
immigrants  every  year,  has  been  able  to  develop  its  agricultural 
resources.  Argentine  exports  every  year  large  amounts  of  wheat, 
corn  and  barley.  These  same  cereals  are  produced  in  small  quanti- 
ties in  other  countries.  Rice  is  exported  in  small  quantities  from 
Peru  and  Brazil.  Chile  produces  and  exports  some  barley  and  oats 
and  what  they  call  frijoles,  which  is  a  kind  of  bean. 

Coffee,  as  you  all  know,  is  the  great  staple  article  of  Brazil; 
in  fact,  is  the  main  export  from  Brazil.  Venezuela  and  Colombia 
also  export  some  large  quantities  of  coffee;  and  Ecuador,  Peru  and 
Bolivia  are  also  producers  of  it  and  export  it  in  small  quantities. 

Cocoa  is  the  staple  product  and  the  main  export  from  Ecuador. 
Ecuador  produces  most  of  the  cocoa  that  is  used  in  the  world. 
Venezuela,  Colombia  and  also  Brazil  may  be  counted  as  providers 
and  exporters  of  cocoa  in  smaller  amounts. 

Peru  manufactures  and  sends  out  a  great  deal  of  sugar,  and 
Argentine  will  perhaps  soon  be  able  to  export  it  because  the  manu- 
facture of  sugar  is  improving,  at  the  present  time  being  only 
enough  for  home  consumption. 

These  are  the  principal  articles  of  agricultural  production  that 
are  actually  available  in  South  America.  Then  of  course,  we  have 
to  count  the  tropical  fruits,  like  bananas,  oranges,  pineapples  and 
different  kinds  of  nuts  that  are  exported  from  the  tropical  countries, 
like  Brazil,  Colombia,  Ecuador  and  Venezuela. 

The  products  I  have  mentioned, are  simply  those  that  are  avail- 
able for  consumption  in  the  present  emergency  all  over  the  world. 
Each  country  produces  different  kinds  of  vegetables  and  cereals  that 
are  not  exported,  and  therefore  it  is  not  necessary  to  mention  them. 

Argentine  and  Uruguay  are  the  great  centers  of  meat  supply. 
In  both  countries  there  are  millions  of  cattle.  Chilled  and  frozen 
meats  and  jerked  beef  are  exported  in  large  quantities  to  all  parts  of 
the  world.  In  the  northern  part  of  South  America,  that  is  to  say,  in 
Venezuela  and  Colombia,  there  is  also  an  abundance  of  cattle. 
Beef  is  exported  on  the  hoof  to  the  West  Indies.  These  two  coun- 
tries, as  well  as  the  southern  countries,  like  Brazil,  Paraguay  and 


South  Americans  Available  Food  Supply  65 

Bolivia,  have  extensive  grazing  grounds  where  millions  of  cattle  can 
be  raised. 

In  fact,  Bolivia,  whose  territory  comprises  more  than  seven 
hundred  thousand  square  miles,'  has  roaming,  in  the  section  neigh- 
boring to  Argentine,*  Paraguay  and  Brazil,  thousands  of  wild  cattle 
in  its  vast  grazing  fields.  They  have  already  received  the  atten- 
tion of  the  people  in  this  country.  I  often  receive  letters  from 
western  farmers  asking  detailed  information  about  the  grazing 
grounds  in  Bolivia.  Southern  Argentine  and  Chile  are  developing 
a  large  sheep  raising  industry.  There  are  great  flocks  in  Pata- 
gonia and  Tierra  del  Fuego. 

This  supply  of  meat  is  very  interesting  to  the  United  States. 
If  we  take  into  consideration  that  from  1907  to  1917,  the  stock  of 
cattle  in  this  country  has  diminished,  according  to  statistics,  at  least 
ten  million  heads,  while  the  population  increased  more  than  fifteen 
million,  it  is  a  fortunate  thing  that  in  the  great  plains  of  Colombia 
and  Venezuela,  which  have  splendid  grazing  grounds,  cattle  could 
be  raised  in  great  numbers,  just  as  in  the  other  countries  I  have 
already  mentioned,  thus  making  it  possible  to  supply  the  deficiency 
in  this  country. 

Such  is  the  summary  of  the  products  that  South  America  could 
furnish  to  the  world  under  the  present  circumstances. 

Of  course,  many  of  the  countries  of  South  America  import 
great  quantities  of  flour  from  the  United  States.  We  in  Bolivia 
import  every  year  from  twenty  to  thirty  thousand  tons  of  flour. 
It  seems  a  shame  that  we  have  to  import  flour  when  we  have  such 
a  fine  climate  and  plenty  of  wheat.  But  transportation  is  too  ex- 
pensive and  therefore,  with  the  railroads  that  have  been  built  lately 
in  the  neighboring  countries  and  the  cheap  ocean  freights,  the 
American  wheat  can  go  to  Bolivia  cheaper  than  the  native  wheat 
can  be  transported  a  few  hundred  miles  on  mule  back. 

The  facility  of  communication,  the  cheapness  and  the  prompt- 
ness of  transportation,  have  so  knitted  the  nations  of  the  world  that 
they  have  grown  to  depend  on  each  other  and  to  receive  whatever 
is  needed  and  to  sell  whatever  they  have  to  export.  In  this  way, 
little  by  little,  the  extension  of  commerce  and  good-will  among  all 
the  peoples  has  progressed  almost  to  the  extent  of  making  the 
whole  world  into  one  single  community. 

But  unfortunately,  this  condition  of  affairs  has  lately  been  abso- 


66  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

lutely  disorganized.  War  is  desolating  mankind.  An  autocrat  filled 
with  the  crazy  ambition  of  submitting  the  world  to  the  dominion 
of  might  and  military  rule  has  trampled  down  the  most  sacred 
traditions  and  principles  of  international  law.  To  accomplish  his 
purpose  is  waging  a  war  unique  for  its  barbarism,  inhumanity  and 
immorality,  cities  have  been  burned,  monuments  of  art  that  are  the 
glory  and  pride  of  mankind  have  been  wantonly  destroyed,  entire 
populations  taken  and  brought  away  from  their  homes,  women  out- 
raged, little  children  left  homeless  and  without  protection,  the  high 
seas  turned  into  a  bandit's  lair  to  attack  merchant  ships  and  destroy 
them,  and  defenseless  passengers  drowned  without  mercy.  It  seems 
as  if  the  author  of  this  great  calamity  is  bent  on  following  literally 
the  threat  of  his  predecessor,  Attila,  who  boasted  that  where  the 
hoof  of  his  horse  trod,  no  blade  of  grass  would  ever  grow. 

No  man  with  a  heart,  no  nation  mindful  of  its  dignity  and  the 
conception  of  its  life,  will  stand  this  wanton  challenge  to  mankind. 
The  United  States  has  been  compelled  to  put  the  whole  weight  of 
its  immense  financial  resources  and  man  power  into  the  struggle, 
to  defend  its  rights  and  vindicate  the  rights  of  mankind. 

Its  action  will  no  doubt  hasten  victory,  and  I  think  will  shorten 
thjs  conflict.  The  day  is  not  far  when  this  night  of  horror  and 
misery  will  be  succeeded  by  the  beautiful  light  of  justice;  and 
having  thoroughly  crushed  military  power  and  autocratic  rule,  the 
nations  of  the  world  will  once  more  in  peace  and  freedom  resume 
their  onward  march,  and  preceded  by  the  unsullied  flag  of  the  stars 
and  stripes  will  advance  toward  progress  and  the  attainment  of  the 
greatest  ideals  of  mankind. 


Sweden's  Food  Supply  57 

SWEDEN'S   FOOD   SUPPLY 

By  Hon.  Axel  Robert  Nordvall, 
Delegate  of  the  Royal  Swedish  Government. 

From  early  times  it  has  been  customary  to  give  agriculture  as 
the  chief  industry  of  Sweden.  Today  the  country  does  not  possess 
the  same  right  to  that  description  it  once  did.  In  the  first  place  the 
number  of  persons  engaged  in  agriculture  has  not  increased  in  the 
same  proportion  as  the  population  of  the  country.  Where  82  per 
cent  of  the  entire  population  was  dependent  on  agriculture  during 
the  "twenties"  and  "thirties"  of  the  last  century,  only  48  per  cent 
was  so  classed  in  the  last  census  in  1910.  This  decrease  occurred  si- 
multaneously with  an  increase  of  crops  produced,  which  means  that 
greater  economy  has  begun  to  be  practiced  with  expensive  human 
labor.  Yet  the  fact  remains  that  the  diminished  labor  supply  has 
in  many  places  made  it  distinctly  difficult  to  successfully  carry  on  the 
work  with  undiminished  intensity.  While  there  has  been  a  steady 
increase  in  the  area  of  cultivated  land  and  the  crops  obtained  from  it, 
this  growth  has  not  kept  pace  with  the  greater  food  needs  of  the 
population.  In  some  earlier  periods  Sweden  had  a  considerable 
surplus  of  grain  but  now  she  is  obliged  to  import  very  large  quanti- 
ties of  cereals. 

In  this  connection  it  must  be  considered  that  agriculture,  which 
in  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century  was  the  only  important 
Swedish  industry,  is  now  considerably  exceeded  in  product  value  by 
the  commodities  turned  out  by  the  nation's  factories.  In  other 
words,  Sweden  is  more  and  more  becoming  a  manufacturing  country. 
Climate  has  probably  been  the  most  important  factor  in  this  change. 
It  is  incontestable  that  Sweden  considering  its  northerly  latitude  is 
wonderfully  favored  in  point  of  climate.  And  it  is  only  fair  to 
admit  that  we  have  America  to  thank  for  this  to  a  very  great  extent 
in  furnishing  us  with  that  marvelous  thing — the  Gulf  Stream — on 
which  I  hope  an  embargo  will  never  be  placed. 

But  the  life-giving  warmth  of  the  south  is  lacking.  Most  of 
the  cultivated  species  in  Sweden  have  to  be  grown  in  latitudes  farther 
north  than  is  favorable  to  them.  The  feeble  sunshine  of  the  north 
allows  only  a  short  growing  period;  night  frosts  are  frequent.  On 
the  whole  it  might  be  said  that  the  farther  north,  the  greater  the 


58  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

cost  of  producing  a  crop  of  cultivated  plants.  It  is  therefore  no 
marvel  that  agriculture  is  difficult,  especially  in  rivalry  with  coun- 
tries that  possess  more  beneficent  sunshine. 

Rye  and  wheat  are  the  two  main  bread  producers  in  Sweden. 
Some  barley  is  used  in  northern  Sweden  for  bread  making,  but  corn 
so  far  is  unknown  as  a  bread  material.  The  yearly  consumption  of 
rye  and  wheat  amounts  to  something  over  one  million  tons,  or,  in 
round  figures,  40,000,000  bushels.  An  average  rye  crop  in  Sweden 
is  about  600,000  tons  or  24,000,000  bushels.  Home  grown  wheat 
crops  are  usually  about  220,000  tons  or  9,000,000  bushels,  making 
a  total  crop  of  bread  cereals  that  approximates  33,000,000  bushels 
counting  wheat  and  rye.  Add  to  these  figures  the  average  yearly 
import  of  these  grains,  which  is  12,000,000  bushels — mostly  wheat — 
and  deduct  5,000,000  bushels  needed  for  seed  and  there  remains  a 
difference  of  about  40,000,000  bushels  of  rye  and  wheat  needed  each 
year  to  feed  the  Swedish  population. 

It  might  be  of  interest  to  know  from  which  countries  Sweden 
filled  its  pre-war  grain  requirements.  In  1913,  or  the  last  year 
before  the  outbreak  of  the  war,  Sweden  imported  8,500,000  bushels 
of  wheat,  of  which  2,500,000  bushels  came  from  Russia,  2,000,000 
bushels  from  Germany,  700,000  bushels  from  Argentina  and  about 
1,000,000  bushels  each  from  the  United  States,  India  and  Denmark. 
During  the  same  year,  1913,  4,000,000  bushels  of  rye  were  imported, 
3,000,000  bushels  coming  from  Germany  and  the  remainder  from 
Russia. 

These  figures  reveal  the  fact  that  before  the  war  at  least  two- 
thirds  of  Sweden's  grain  cereal  imports — 12,500,000  bushels — came 
from  the  now  belligerent  nations,  Russia  and  Germany.  When,  at 
the  outbreak  of  the  war,  Sweden  could  not  import  grain  from  those 
countries  and  had  to  fill  her  requirements  from  other  markets,  it  was 
only  natural  that  she  should  turn  to  the  United  States. 

In  1916  Sweden  imported  12,000,000  bushels  of  wheat  and  rye, 
something  less  than  the  1913  purchases.  The  United  States  fur- 
nished about  80  per  cent,  or  9,720,000  bushels,  and  Argentina  pro- 
vided the  remainder — about  2,000,000  bushels.  As  will  be  seen  from 
these  figures,  Sweden  did  not  import  more  grain  during  1916  than 
before  the  war,  but  actually  bought  a  smaller  quantity  and  changed 
the  sources  of  her  imports  from  Germany  and  Russia  to  the  United 
States. 


Sweden's  Food  Supply  59 

At  the  end  of  1916,  when  shipping  diflBculties  became  more  and 
more  acute,  the  Swedish  government  took  the  precaution  to  take  over 
all  stocks  of  grain  and  flour  and  put  the  entire  nation  on  a  bread 
ration.  In  the  beginning  this  ration  was  fixed  at  12  kilograms 
(26.5  pounds)  of  bread  grain  a  month  for  each  person  enrolled  in  the 
agricultural  class,  and  250  grams,  or  9  ounces  of  flour  a  day  for  all 
other  citizens. 

During  March  of  1917  an  inventory  of  the  nation's  grain  stock 
was  completed  and  it  was  discovered  that  the  stores  were  much 
smaller  than  had  been  calculated.  An  error  had  been  made  in 
calculating  the  1916  crop  and  it  was  immediately  decided  to  cut 
down  the  bread  ration  considerably.  The  new  ration,  it  was  decided, 
should  be  10  kilograms  (22  pounds)  a  month  for  each  person  in  the 
agricultural  class  and  200  grams,  or  7  ounces  daily,  for  all  other 
individuals. 

Lately  the  proposition  has  been  under  consideration  to  further 
diminish  the  bread  ration  because  of  the  serious  doubt  as  to  whether 
the  old  crop  would  be  sufficient  to  last  until  the  new  harvest,  grain 
from  which  may  be  expected  to  reach  the  market  about  the  middle 
of  November.  I  hope  this  course  has  not  been  deemed  necessary 
because  it  would  bring  a  great  part  of  our  people  to  the  brink  of 
starvation.  The  seven  ounce  ration  is  small  enough;  in  fact  it  is  the 
smallest  I  know  of  in  any  country  in  the  world,  including  Germany, 

The  German  bread  ration,  I  have  been  told,  was  some  months 
ago  increased  to  1,950  grams  (69  ounces)  per  person  per  week, 
whereas  the  Swedish  ration  gives  only  1,400  grams  (50  ounces)  to 
each  person  per  week — or,  in  other  words,  the  Swedish  ration  is  25 
per  cent  less  than  the  German. 

It  should  be  mentioned  in  this  connection,  however,  that  to 
those  individuals  among  the  Swedish  working  class  who  have  es- 
pecially hard  work  to  perform,  an  extra  allowance  of  flour  is  given, 
depending  entirely  on  the  occupation  of  the  individual.  In  some 
cases — with  his  extra  flour  allowance — the  Swedish  workman  gets 
nearly  the  same  ration  as  the  German  civil  workman. 

Some  time  must  elapse  before  the  1916-17  crop  figures  are 
available.  With  a  satisfactory  harvest  and  with  a  good  potato  crop 
this  year  it  would  have  been  possible  to  maintain  the  present  bread 
ration  during  1917-18,  even  though  foreign  grown  grain  was 
unavailable. 


60  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

I  am  sorry  to  say,  however,  that  there  is  no  prospect  today  for 
a  medium  good  grain  harvest.  Owing  to  unfavorable  weather  con- 
ditions during  the  fall  of  1916  the  sowing  of  winter  wheat  and  rye  was 
delayed,  and  the  winter  frosts  found  the  plants  small  and  delicate. 
This,  taken  in  connection  with  unfavorable  conditions  during  the 
winter  and  the  severe  frosts  of  April  and  May,  caused  a  total  failure 
of  the  winter  rj^e  in  certain  sections  and  a  partial  failure  in  other 
parts,  and  the  entire  crop,  including  the  wheat,  was  very  poor  at  the 
beginning  of  the  summer.  June  and  July  brought  a  severe  drouth 
spoiling  the  small  remaining  prospects  of  the  winter  grain  and  also 
greatly  hindered  the  development  of  spring  grain.  I  am  sorry  to 
state  that  today  it  can  safely  be  said  that  both  winter  and  spring 
grain  will  show  a  considerable  shortage  for  1917.  The  winter  crop 
will  be  approximately  12,000,000  bushels  below  normal. 

It  will  scarcely  be  possible  to  fill  this  shortage  by  a  greater  use 
of  spring  grain,  because  the  spring  crops  are  for  the  most  part  oats, 
barley,  etc.,  and  are  unsuitable  for  bread  making,  being  really  fodder 
crops,  and  short  at  that,  promising  only  enough  food  for  livestock 
use  during  the  winter,  since  the  hay  crop  is  also  short  and  since  im- 
ported fodder  will  be  difficult  to  secure  from  abroad,  if  it  can  be 
secured  at  all. 

In  brief,  the  Swedish  grain  crop  is  about  12,000,000  bushels 
short  of  normal  production.  With  an  average  crop  it  is  necessary 
for  us  to  import  12,000,000  bushels.  Consequently,  this  year  we 
will  need  24,000,000  bushels  of  grain  from  abroad  in  order  to  have 
the  same  standard  of  living  as  before  the  war.  Thanks  to  our 
government's  foresight  in  introducing  bread  rationing  in  good  time, 
we  have  saved  about  12,000,000  bushels,  or  30  per  cent  of  the  pre- 
war annual  consumption  of  bread  grains.  We  must,  however,  import 
12,000,000  bushels  of  some  sort  of  breadstuff  during  1917-18  if  we 
manage  to  maintain  the  present  bread  ration,  which,  as  I  have  stated, 
is  probably  the  smallest  in  the  world,  and  is  at  least  25  per  cent  less 
than  the  German  allowance. 

Sweden  particularly  recognizes  the  value  of  the  potato  as  a 
foodstuff  of  the  greatest  importance  for  man  and  beast.  Our  crop  in 
1913  was  about  2,000,000  tons;  in  1914,  1,700,000  tons;  in  1915, 
2,100,000  tons,  but  in  1916  we  harvested  only  1,500,000  tons  of 
potatoes.  During  the  war  there  has  been  no  import  or  export  trade 
in  this  conmiodity.     As  to  the  prospects  of  the  potato  crop  I  think 


Sweden's  Food  Supply  61 

it  would  be  safe  to  say  that  we  might  expect  a  medium  crop  and  if  the 
weather  conditions  continue  to  be  favorable,  it  might  even  be  a 
little  better. 

One  other  important  nutriment  is  produced  from  Swedish  soil; 
sugar,  made  from  beets.  The  production  of  refined  sugar  amounted 
to  126,000  tons  during  1913;  in  1914  the  output  was  137,000  tons; 
in  1915,  143,000  tons,  but  in  1916,  owing  to  decreased  acreage  and  to 
inferior  quality  and  quantity  of  the  sugar  beet  crop,  only  122,000 
tons  of  refined  sugar  were  produced.  Because  of  the  excellent  1914 
and  1915  crops,  Sweden  was  able  to  help  her  friend  and  neighbor 
Norway  with  15,000  tons  of  sugar,  the  only  sugar  that  has  been 
exported  during  the  war.  Statistics  show  that  there  was  a  consid- 
erable increase  in  Swedish  domestic  consumption  of  sugar  in  1915  and 
1916.  This  was  due  to  the  fact  that  the  government  fixed  a  maxi- 
mum sugar  price,  making  it  one  of  the  cheapest  nutriments  on  the 
market.  The  low  price,  however,  had  one  great  drawback,  it 
brought  about  the  reduction  in  acreage  and  lessened  the  cultivation 
of  sugar  beets.  The  decrease  in  sugar  production  during  1916,  and 
the  greatly  increased  sugar  consumption,  made  the  sugar  situation 
rather  serious  in  the  latter  part  of  1916,  which  influenced  the  govern- 
ment to  ration  sugar  in  the  following  manner: 

(1)  Factories  using  sugar  (including  bakeries,  chocolate,  candy 
and  soft  drink  factories) ,  will  receive  about  half  the  yearly  quantity 
they  had  used  during  the  previous  two  years. 

(2)  Each  individual  will  receive  13  kilograms  of  sugar  a  year  and 
in  addition  a  small  quantity  will  be  allowed  each  household  for  pre- 
serving purposes. 

In  the  foregoing  I  have  given  a  short  r^sum^  of  the  Swedish 
situation  in  regard  to  bread  and  other  starch-giving  foods. 

Hardly  less  important,  however,  is  the  fodder  production  on 
which  depends  the  cattle  raising  industry.  Our  fodder  crops  are 
oats,  barley  and  mixed  grain,  with  certain  quantities  of  straw  and 
hay;  which  has  never  been  sufficient  to  feed  our  livestock.  Even 
before  the  war,  it  was  necessary  to  import  oil  cake  and  corn  in  order 
to  supplement  the  stocks  of  native  grown  fodder.  Approximately 
1,300,000  tons  of  oats  are  generally  produced  each  year,  with  the 
exception  of  the  1914  crop,  which  was  unusually  short,  40  per  cent 
below  normal  in  fact,  with  the  total  production  approximating  800,- 
000  tons.     Our  barley  crop  is  usually  300,000  tons  annually,  and  we 


B2  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

produce  about  350,000  tons  of  mixed  grain  each  year.  The  hay 
crop,  as  a  general  thing,  is  between  five  and  seven  milhon  tons 
annually. 

Until  1916,  the  annual  import  of  cotton  seed  cakes  was  150,000 
tons.     That  at  least  was  the  figure  for  1913,  1914  and  1915.     In 

1916  this  figure  was  reduced  about  one-half  and  in  1917  there  was  a 
still  greater  reduction.  Corn  was  imported  at  the  rate  of  50,000  tons 
a  year  during  1913,  1914  and  1916.  In  1915  this  figure  increased  to 
more  than  200,000  tons,  which  is  accounted  for  by  the  unusually  poor 
oat  crop  in  Sweden  during  1914  when  the  total  yield  was  between 
500,000  and  600,000  tons  below  normal. 

As  a  consequence  of  cutting  off  almost  entirely  the  importation 
of  cotton  seed  cake  and  corn  during  1916,  and  because  of  the  poor 

1917  fodder  crop  as  well  as  the  indifferent  harvests  of  oats,  barley, 
mixed  grain  and  hay,  it  will  be  necessary  in  the  near  future  to  slaugh- 
ter or  export  a  considerable  part  of  the  nation's  cattle  and  swine. 
It  is  hardly  necessary  to  dwell  on  the  enormity  of  a  national  calamity 
endangering  the  national  production  of  meat,  milk  and  butter,  by 
being  forced  to  kill  off  the  country's  livestock.  Extensive  stock 
killing  will  for  the  time  being  flood  the  market  with  more  meat  than 
can  be  consumed  causing  an  overproduction  of  one  kind  of  food,  but 
in  the  end  the  cattle  loss  will  be  badly  felt  especially  when  the  war 
is  over  and  business  tries  to  revert  to  pre-war  conditions. 

Sweden's   War  Time   Food   Exports 

Much  misinformation  has  been  published  in  the  press  and  gen- 
erally believed  by  the  pubhc,  under  the  general  subject  of  "Sweden 
is  Feeding  Germany."  Only  the  other  day  I  read  that  5,000,000 
bushels  of  wheat  have  been  shipped  from  Sweden  to  Germany  during 
the  war.  This  statement,  like  most  of  the  others  I  have  read,  is 
absolutely  wrong. 

It  is  a  pleasurable  duty  to  give  the  correct  export  figures  to  this 
American  audience.  During  the  war  Sweden  has  exported  the 
following  quantities  of  wheat' to  Germany:  45  tons  or  1,800  bushels 
in  1914;  30  tons  or  1,200  bushels  in  1915;  40  tons  or  1,600  bushels  in 
1916  and  during  1917,  nothing  at  all.  During  the  entire  three  years 
of  war  the  total  exports  of  wheat  have  been  less  than  5,000  bushels. 
Absolutely  no  rye  has  been  exported  from  Sweden  during  the  war. 

Of  Swedish  oats,  nearly  500,000  bushels  were  exported  during 


Sweden's  Food  Supply  ^  63 

1916,  but  during  the  years  1914,  1915  "and  1917  not  a  single  pound 
has  been  exported.  Just  180  tons  of  barley  were  exported  during 
1916 — the  only  exports  of  any  year  during  the  war.  No  corn  has 
been  exported  during  the  war. 

About  1,200  tons  of  rolled  oats  and  partly  spoiled  barley  were 
exported  to  Germany  during  1916,  part  of  which  was  sent  for  the 
relief  of  the  starving  population  of  Lodz  in  Poland.  Finally  2,200 
tons  of  malt  were  exported  to  Germany  during  1916. 

All  told  there  has  been  a  total  of  10,695  tons  of  grain  and  malt 
exported  during  the  entire  war.  Of  this  amount  the  greater  part 
was  oats,  and  only  an  insignificant  portion  was  wheat.  Considering 
that  Sweden's  total  yearly  consumption  of  all  sorts  of  grain  amounts 
to  3,000,000  tons  a  year,  which  for  the  three  years  of  war  makes  in 
round  numbers,  9,000,000  tons,  the  total  export  during  the  entire 
war  was  about  one-tenth  of  •I  per  cent  of  Sweden's  total  grain  con- 
sumption— certainly  an  insignificant  amount.  It  is  hardly  necessary 
to  state  that  at  the  present  time,  or  during  the  present  year,  there 
can  and  will  be  no  export  of  grain  in  any  form  from  Sweden. 

Regarding  the  situation  concerning  cattle,  meat  and  dairy 
products,  I  must  say,  in  times  past  Sweden  used  to  export  consid- 
erable quantities  of  oats,  which,  however,  has  ceased  since  the 
country  began  to  raise  cattle  on  a  larger  scale.  Sweden  had,  at  the 
beginning  of  this  year,  about  3,000,000  head  of  cattle.  In  1913  we 
exported  42,000  animals;  in  1914,  80,000;  1915,  36,000;  1916, 
14,000.  Broadly  speaking,  1  per  cent  of  the  nation's  entire  cattle 
stock  was  customarily  exported,  except  in  1914,  when  the  oat  crop 
dropped  40  per  cent,  approximately  3  per  cent  of  the  national  stock 
being  sold  abroad.  For  years  before  the  war,  Germany  and  Den- 
mark bought  the  greater  portion  of  our  export  cattle. 

The  actual  meat  export  figures  for  four  years  past  are:  1913, 
5,000  tons;  1914,  7,500;  1915,  11,700;  1916,  5,000.  I  must  em- 
phasize the  point  that  this  export  business  is  not  a  war  industry  but 
existed  long  before  the  war.  And  also  that  shortage  of  food  at  home 
caused  the  trade  to  fall  off  considerably  in  1916,  and  to  diminish  to 
.  virtually  nothing  this  year.  Pork  exports  before  the  war  increased 
yearly.  In  1913  we  exported  8,000  tons  of  pork  and  in  1914  the 
pork  exports  increased  to  15,000  tons.  The  1915  exports  totalled 
19,000  tons  and  reached  a  maximum.  In  1916  the  export  pork 
tonnage  was  14,000,  while  at  the  present  time  all  export  of  pork 


64  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

from  Sweden  has  ceased,  and'we  are  importing  pork  under  a  special 
arrangement  from  Denmark. 

It  is  regrettable  that  Sweden  has  not  been  able  to  uphold  the 
export  of  her  pork  to  England  during  the  war  and  that  a  greater 
part  of  it  has  gradually  gone  to  Germany,  especially  in  1915.  The 
natural  and  only  explanation  is  that  pork  exporters,  in  order  to  get 
the  high  cost  of  production  covered,  chose  the  market  that  offered  the 
best  transportation  facilities,  the  highest  prices  and  the  best  condi- 
tions of  payment,  which  conditions  Germany  undoubtedly  fulfilled. 
Many  efforts  have  been  made  to  maintain  the  export  of  pork  to 
England  but  these  have  all  been  in  vain,  as  the  prices  offered  and 
other  conditions  were  too  unfavorable. 

Butter  is  one  of  Sweden's  most  important  export  articles  and 
has  been  for  many  years.  Before  the  war  we  exported  about 
20,000  tons  annually.  During  1914  andil915  this  amount  decreased 
and  in  1916  it  had  reached  the  low  figure  of  13,000  tons.  During 
the  present  year  all  export  of  butter  has  ceased  and  Sweden  is  now 
importing  butter  from  Denmark  under  special  agreement.  The 
same  reasons  given  for  the  decline  of  English-Swedish  pork  trade 
and  the  turning  of  this  business  to  German  firms — also  apply  to  the 
butter  business. 

The  diminution  of  Sweden's  butter  exports  is  intimately 
connected  with  the  cessation  of  Swedish  production  of  margarine. 
Sweden  manufactures  and  consumes,  during  normal  years,  about 
30,000  tons  of  margarine,  made  principally  from  imported  raw 
materials.  The  importation  of  fats  and  oils  needed  for  margarine 
production  ceased  entirely  during  1916. 

Sweden  had  an  important  pre-war  export  trade  in  milk,  cream 
and  cheese.  Denmark  bought  the  milk,  Germany  the  cream  and 
Switzerland  the  cheese.  During  the  war  the  export  of  these  com- 
modities gradually  diminished  and  ceased  altogether  during  1917. 

I  would  like  to  give  you  some  figures  showing  what  Sweden's 
meat  export  to  Germany  really  meant  to  that  country  during  the 
war.  I  say  "meant"  because  such  export,  worth  mentioning,  does 
not  exist  any  more.  In  1915  Sweden's  total  export  of  all  kinds  of 
meat  to  Germany  was  only  28,400  tons.  In  1910  the  total  amount 
was  20,000  tons.  Both  figures  include  pork  and  live  cattle.  Esti- 
mating Germany's  population  at  05,000,000,  the  export  figures  men- 
tioned above  indicate  that  each  individual  in  Germany  received 


Sweden's  Food  Supply  65 

about  430  grams,  or  about  one  pound  of  meat  and  pork  all  told 
during  the  entire  year  1915.  In  1916  the  corresponding  figure  was 
310  grams  or  11  ounces. 

I  hope  the  remarks  I  have  had  the  opportunity  of  making  before 
this  distinguished  audience  will  help  to  give  an  idea  of  the  conditions 
in  my  country  and  of  the  grave  problems  Sweden  is  now  facing.  It 
is  not  only  foodstuffs  we  lack,  but  also  such  articles  as  oil,  coal,  and 
many  kinds  of  raw  materials.  The  lack  of  lubricating  oil,  to  take 
one  example,  will  in  a  month  or  two  put  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
Swedish  workmen  out  of  employment.  It  is  to  America,  that  we, 
like  other  countries,  are  looldng  for  relief  in  our  precarious  situation. 

I  am  a  great  believer  in  ''give  and  take,"  and  hate  one-sided 
agreements.  Today,  money  alone  is  not  consideration  enough  for 
America's  products,  and  Sweden  offers  in  exchange  for  the  American 
goods  she  so  badly  needs,  such  Swedish  products  as  our  good  iron 
ore,  our  high  grade  steel,  or  wood  pulp  and  other  commodities, 
facilities  and  guarantees  which  are  in  our  power  to  give. 

The  American  government  has  taken  into  her  own  hands  con- 
trol of  the  export  of  American  products.  This  means,  I  know,  a 
square  deal  to  everybody.  It  is  a  tremendous  task  this  country 
has  undertaken,  and  means  virtually,  the  rationing  of  the  greater 
part  of  the  world — her  allies  as  well  as  the  neutral  nations. 

An  organization  to  handle  this  immense  job  cannot  be  put  into 
shape  over  night.  It  is  only  natural  that  America  shall  want  to 
find  out  first  what  her  own  resources  are,  and  then  how  much  she 
needs  for  her  own  people  and  for  the  nations  allied  with  her  in  this 
great  war.  And  when  these  facts  are  ascertained  she  will  know  how 
far  she  will  be  able  to  satisfy  the  neutral  countries  dependent  upon 
her. 

That  everything  will  be  done  to  avoid  unnecessary  hardship  and 
suffering  in  any  of  the  neutral  countries  is  the  belief  of  everybody 
who  knows  the  American  people,  their  government,  American 
ideals  and  what  America  stands  for  in  this  war. 


M  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


SWITZERLAND   AND   THE   AMERICAN   FOOD   SUPPLY 

By  William  E.  Rappard, 

Professor  at  the  University  of  Geneva,  Switzerland,  formerly  of  Harvard  University; 

Member  of  the  International  Red  Cross  Committee;  Member  of 

the  Swiss  Mission  to  the  United  States. 

The  Economic  Situation 

Nature  seems  to  have  predestined  Switzerland  to  be  a  victim 
in  a  general  European  war. 

Imagine  a  country  smaller  in  size  than  Maryland  and  smaller 
in  population  than  Massachusetts,  surrounded  on  all  sides  by  four 
great  nations  whose  total  population  is  about  twice  that  of  the 
United  States.  Imagine  two  of  these  surrounding  nations  at  war 
with  the  two  others.  Imagine  a  country  whose  moist  climate  and 
high  average  altitude  prevent  it  from  raising  more  than  a  fifth  of  the 
cereal  foodstuffs  necessary  for  the  consumption  of  its  population,  a 
population  about  equal  in  point  of  density  to  that  of  Connecticut. 
Imagine  a  highly  industrialized  country  without  any  mineral  re- 
sources nor  any  outlet  to  the  sea.  Imagine  all  these  conflicting 
circumstances  and  you  will  have  a  true  picture  of  the  economic 
situation  of  Switzerland. 

In  the  last  few  years  before  the  war  Switzerland  was  in  the  habit 
of  importing  from  50  to  75  per  cent  of  her  foreign  wheat  from  Russia 
and  Roumania;  Canada,  the  United  States,  and  Argentina  supplying 
most  of  the  rest.  Coal,  of  which  her  soil  is  absolutely  barren,  she 
drew  mostly  from  Germany.  This  empire  alone  supplied  her  with 
more  than  80  per  cent  of  her  needs,  less  than  10  per  cent  being  im- 
ported from  France  and  still  less  from  Belgium.  As  for  pig  iron,  all 
of  which  we  were  obhged  to  import  also,  about  55  per  cent  of  it  came 
from  Germany,  30  per  cent  from  France  and  the  rest  from  England, 
Austria,  and  Sweden.  In  normal  times  about  three-fourths  in  value 
of  our  annual  imports  consisted  of  foodstuffs  and  raw  materials  and 
about  three-fourths  of  the  value  of  our  annual  exports  were  repre- 
sented by  manufactured  articles. 

In  times  of  peace,  the  economic  interdependence  of  nations  is 
justly  regarded  as  a  very  natural  and  mutually  advantageous  con- 
sequence of  the  international  division  of  labor.     But  in  times  of  war, 


Switzerland  and  the  American  Food  Supply  67 

as  we  have  learned  at  our  expense,  economic  interdependence  means 
economic  dependence  of  the  small  on  the  large  states,  and  nothing 
can  be  more  threatening  for  the  political  independence  of  small 
states  than  economic  dependence  on  their  large  neighbors. 

Since  1914  Switzerland  has  become  entirely  dependent  on  the 
allies  in  general  and  on  the  United  States  in  particular  for  many 
essential  commodities,  the  most  important  of  which  is  grain.  On 
the  other  hand,  Switzerland  has  become  equally  dependent  on  the 
central  powers  in  general  and  on  Germany  in  particular  for  equally 
essential  commodities,  the  most  important  of  which  are  coal,  iron, 
chemical  fertilizers  and  potatoes. 

That  the  central  powers  should  not  supply  us  gratuitously  with 
coal  and  iron  is  as  natural,  as  it  is  natural  that  the  allies  should 
not  allow  us  to  pay  for  them  with  the  foods  stuff  they  export  to 
us.  Nor  it  is  surprising  that  the  central  powers  should  forbid 
the  reexportation  to  the  allies  of  the  coal  and  iron  we  receive  from 
them. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  considerable  tourist  traffic,  which  for- 
merly helped  us  to  balance  our  foreign  trade  account,  has  become 
negligible  as  a  result  of  the  war.  Consequently  we  today  have  to 
rely  almost  exclusively  on  the  products  of  our  grazing  and  manu- 
facturing industries  as  payment  for  our  imports  of  foodstuffs  and 
raw  materials. 

The  allies  have  further  so  far  restricted  our  exports  of  Swiss 
raised  cattle  and  dair}^  products  to  the  central  powers  that  they  have 
become  insignificant  as  compared  with  the  needs  and  resources  of 
those  powers  and  insufficient  to  pay  for  our  imports.  Hence  the 
recent  credit  arrangement  between  Switzerland  and  Germany, 
according  to  which  we  have  been  obhged  to  loan  Germany  $4,000,- 
000  for  every  200,000  tons  of  coal  we  receive  from  her. 

The  allies  have  recognized  that  our  economic  relations  with 
the  central  powers  have  been  limited  as  far  as  is  compatible  with  the 
necessities  of  our  national  existence.  In  order  to  live,  we  must  im- 
port some  cereal  foodstuffs  from  the  allies  and  export  some  products 
of  our  grazing  industry  to  the  central  powers;  that  is  the  price 
exacted  for  the  coal  and  iron  which  no  one  but  they  can  furnish 
us.  To  deny  us  the  right  to  import  or  to  make  it  dependent  upon 
our  refusal  to  export  would,  therefore,  be  to  denj^  us  the  right  to 
Hve. 


68  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

Stated  in  these  simple  terms,  the  problem  involved  is  suscepti 
ble  of  but  one  solution  at  the  hands  of  a  nation  and  of  a  government 
which  have  always  been  noted  for  their  spirit  of  fair  play  and  for 
their  generosity  toward  small  countries. 

The  Political  Situation 

So  much  for  the  economics  of  the  Swiss  situation.  Let  us  now 
briefly  examine  its  political  aspect. 

The  Swiss  nation,  although  one  of  the  smallest  in  the  world,  is 
made  up  of  peoples  of  different  tongues,  of  different  races,  and  of 
different  creeds.  About  two-thirds  of  the  population  speak  a 
Germanic  dialect,  about  a  quarter  speak  French  and  the  rest  Itahan. 
I  may  here  remark  parenthetically  that  although  German  is  the 
written  language  in  the  German  parts  of  Switzerland,  the  spoken 
dialect,  somewhat  resembling  the  Alsatian,  is  so  distinctive  that  it  is 
not  understood  by  the  average  German.  The  national  problem 
arising  out  of  the  diversities  of  the  Swiss  nation  has  hitherto  been- 
successfully  solved  through  the  strict  observance  of  three  great 
principles — democracy,  federalism  (what  you  would  call  the  principle 
of  states'  rights  or  of  local  autonomy)  and  neutrality, 

Switzerland  was  born  at  the  close  of  the  thirteenth  century  as  a 
democratic  republic  and,  in  spite  of  some  attempts  at  political 
reaction,  she  has  always  remained  true  to  her  democratic  ideal. 
The  initiative  and  the  referendum,  which  she  has  devised  in  the 
course  of  the  last  century  and  which  hav^  since  been  imitated  in  this 
country,  are  but  the  most  recent  symptoms  of  a  political  spirit  which 
is  as  old  as  the  country  itself. 

Until  1798  Switzerland  had  been  a  loose  confederation  of  sov- 
ereign states.  Then  suddenly  she  became  a  highly  centraHzed  re- 
public, after  the  French  revolutionary  pattern.  Neither  system 
proved  satisfactory.  In  1800  Napoleon  Bonaparte  urged  Switzer- 
land to  adopt  the  American  form  of  federal  government.  This  was 
finally  done  in  1848.  In  the  meantime  several  Swiss  authors,  and 
particularlj^  James  Fazy,  a  Geneva  statesman  who  had  been  a  warm 
friend  of  Lafayette,  had  carefully  studied  and  strongly  recommended 
the  imitation  of  American  institutions.  The  happy  balancing  of 
the  rights  of  the  constituent  states  represented  in  one  house  of 
Congress,  and  of  the  rights  of  the  nation  at  large  represented  in  the 
other,  is,  almost  as  much  as  the  democracy  itself,  one  of  the  secrets 


I 


Switzerland  and  the  American  Food  Supply  69 


of  Switzerland's  internal  peace.     We  have  not  forgotten  and  we  shall 
never  forget  that  we  owe  it  to  the  example  of  your  country. 

The  third  cardinal  principle  of  Swiss  political  life  is  neutrality. 
This  also  is  well-nigh  as  old  as  the  country  itself.  It  was  practiced 
in  an  imperfect  manner  as  far  back  as  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth 
century.  It  saved  Switzerland  from  ruin  during  the  Thirty  Years' 
War  in  the  seventeenth  century  and  during  the  wars  of  Louis  XIV 
in  the  early  part  of  the  eighteenth  century.  Ifc  was  given  its  present 
form  at  the  Congress  at  Paris  in  1815  when  France,  Great  Britain, 
Russia,  Portugal,  Prussia  and  Austria,  recognizing  'Hhe  neutrality 
and  inviolability  of  Switzerland  and  her  independence  of  all  foreign 
influence  to  be  in  the  true  interests  of  the  policy  of  the  whole  of 
Europe,"  solemnly  yowed  forever  to  respect  them. 

The  neutrality  of  Switzerland  is,  unlike  many  other  neutralities, 
no  provisional  and  opportunist  political  attitude.  It  is  a  funda- 
mental principle  of  our  national  life,  a  condition  both  of  our  external 
independence  and  of  our  internal  peace.  Our  federal  Constitution, 
defining  the  duties  of  the  Federal  Council,  our  national  executive, 
makes  it  equally  incumbent  upon  it  to  defend  "the  independence  and 
the  neutrality"  of  the  country.  At  the  beginning  of  the  present  war 
all  our  belligerent  neighbors  renewed  the  assurance  of  their  fidelity 
to  their  treaty  obligations  and  our  government  renewed  the  assur- 
ance of  our  absolute  and  unconditional  will  and  duty  to  defend  our 
neutrality  against  all  possible  aggressors.  Since  the  beginning  of 
August,  1914,  our  army  has  been  continuously  guarding  our 
frontiers.  The  cost  to  date  is  approximately  $150,000,000,  a  sum  / 
which  means  as  much  to  a  population  of  3,500,000  inhabitants  as 
about  $4,500,000,000  would  mean  to  the  people  of  the  United  States. 
It  is  a  very  heavy  burden.  But  we  deem  no  exertion  too  strenuous, 
no  privation  too  trying,  no  sacrifice  too  great,  when  the  sanctity  of 
our  word  of  honor  and  the  independence  of  our  country  are  at  stake . 
Such  are  the  foundations  of  our  political  existence.  They  have  thus 
far  withstood  all  shocks  from  without  and  from  within. 

Ever  since  the  beginning  of  the  war  the  French  and  Italian 
speaking  element  of  our  population  have  ardently  hoped  and  wished 
for  the  triumph  of  the  allies.  In  those  parts  of  the  country  where 
the  German-Swiss  dialect  is  spoken,  our  people  were  divided.  An 
unbounded  admiration  for  German  efficiency,  an  exaggerated  faith 
in  the  German  version  of  the  origins  of  the  war,  unfortunate  illusions 


I 


70  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

about  the  degeneracy  of  France,  about  the  imperiaUsm  of  Great 
Britain  and  about  the  menace  of  Czarism  caused  many  of  our  fellow- 
citizens  to  lose  sight  of  the  deeper  moral  significance  of  the  present 
struggle.  But  today  the  violation  of  the  Belgian  neutrality  and  the 
admirable  resistance  of  that  noble  people,  the  terroristic  methods  of 
German  warfare  and  the  magnificent  reaction  of  unprepared  and 
pacific  France,  the  Russian  revolution  and  the  entrance  of  the 
United  States  into  the  war,  have  cleared  the  issues.  Today  the 
great  mass  of  our  people  have,  with  regard  to  the  principles  at  stake 
and  to  their  champions  on  the  fields  of  battle,  such  feelings  of  hope 
and  gratitude  as  become  the  citizens  of  the  oldest  democratic  repub- 
lic in  the  world. 

In  her  efforts  to  hold  and  to  gain  the  sympathies  of  Switzerland, 
Germany  has  used  two  tools,  one  intellectual  and  the  other  economic. 
The  first  has  failed  her.  A  bad  cause  poorly  defended;  such  is  the 
Swiss  opinion  of  the  German  propaganda.  With  the  other  tool 
Germany  has  been  much  more  fortunate.  In  spite  of  our  adverse 
feelings,  or  perhaps  on  account  of  them,  she  has  been  almost  gener- 
ous toward  us.  Burning  exclusively  German  coal,  the  Swiss  people 
suffered  less  from  last  winter's  cold  than  the  German  people  them- 
selves. Last  year  three-fourths  of  our  imported  potatoes  were 
furnished  us  by  Germany.  Our  own  crop  had  failed  and  this  spring, 
when  we  were  in  dire  need  of  potato  seeds,  Germany,  in  spite  of  her 
own  shortage,  supplied  us  liberally  with  them. 

When  rumors  of  the  threatening  American  embargo  on  food 
for  neutrals  reached  Europe,  rumors  which  doubtless  provoked  still 
more  rejoicing  in  Berlin  than  anxiety  in  Berne,  it  was  intimated 
from  certain  quarters  that  if  the  allies  failed  us  we  might  perhaps 
rely  on  Germany  even  for  some  of  our  cereal  foodstuffs. 

One  may  be  assured  that  in  her  present  moral  isolation,  there  are 
few  economic  sacrifices  which  Germany  would  not  make,  if  they 
were  productive  of  real  political  advantages. 

Fortunately  the  allies  have  also  treated  us  fairly  thus  far.  The 
allurements  of  interested  German  generosity  have,  therefore,  not 
been  too  effective.  But  they  are  dangerous  and  they  might  become 
fatal  for  our  people  if  we  were  not  certain  of  your  people's  and  of 
your  government's  sympathetic  interest  and  support. 


Switzerland  and  the  American  Food  Supply  71 

Conclusion 
In  his  memorable  farewell  address,  Washington  said  in  1795: 

There  can  be  no  greater  error  than  to  expect  or  calculate  upon  real  favors 
from  nation  to  nation.  'Tis  an  illusion  which  experience  must  cure,  which  a 
just  pride  ought  to  discard. 

This  wise  utterance  is  perhaps  less  absolutely  true  today  than 
it  was  at  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century.  Still  we  should  not  dare 
to  sohcit  any  favors  from  this  country,  if  we  were  not  convinced  that 
by  granting  them  your  government  was  effectively  serving  your  own 
cause. 

The  United  States  government  has  it  in  its  power  to  save  Swit- 
zerland or  to  ruin  her.  For  America  to  save  Switzerland  in  the 
present  crisis  is  to  clear  the  way  for  the  realization  of  the  American 
peace  idea,  by  convincing  the  most  hardened  of  skeptics  and  cynics 
abroad  of  the  absolute  sincerity  of  its  democratic  inspiration.  For 
America  to  let  Switzerland  perish  or  to  allow  her  to  be  saved  through 
the  shrewd  and  calculating  generosity  of  the  German  autocracy, 
would  be  to  abandon  the  most  ancient  and  the  firmest  foothold  of 
liberal  and  federative  democracy  on  the  continent  of  Europe.  Could 
anything  more  hopelessly  obscure  the  fundamental  issue  of  this  war, 
undertaken  by  the  United  States  to  realize  that  state  of  political 
fellowship  between  peoples  of  different  tongues  and  races,  of  which 
Switzerland  is  perhaps  the  most  perfect  prototype  in  the  world? 

And,  on  the  other  hand,  could  anything  more  gloriously  and 
more  persuasively  show  the  German  people  the  true  intentions  of  the 
American  government  and  the  true  obstacle  to  lasting  peace,  than  a 
fair  and  generous  treatment  of  that  country  which  at  their  doors,  is 
for  friends  and  foes  of  democracy  alike,  the  very  embodiment  of  the 
democratic  idea? 

A  public  statement  of  this  policy  and  of  its  justification  from  the 
American  point  of  view,  coming  from  this  country  and  reechoed  into 
Germany  through  the  thousand  channels  of  our  press,  would  be  more 
than  a  convincing  argument.  It  would  be  a  demonstration.  We 
know  that  America  will  save  Switzerland,  because  we  know  that  it  is 
America's  wish  and  will  that  the  government  of  the  people,  by  the 
people,  and  for  the  people  perish  not  from  any  part  of  the  earth,  but 
that  it  prevail  throughouJt  all  civilized  mankind! 


72 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


Statistical  Appendix 

The  following  five  tables  illustrate  Switzerland's  economic  de- 
pendence on  the  two  hostile  groups  of  belligerents  for  five  of  the 
most  vital  commodities.  Unless  otherwise  specified,  the  figures 
given  are  in  thousands  of  metrical  tons.  The  total  imports  of 
each  commodity  as  indicated  often  exceed  the  sums  of  the  imports 
from  the  various  countries,  as  only  the  most  important  of  the  ex- 
porting countries  are  mentioned. 

Imports  of  Coal 


Frovi 

1911 

1912 

1913 

1914 

1916 

1916 

Germany 

2,467 

2,615 

2,845 

2,730 

3,032 

2,730 

Austria 

9 

11 

7 

12 

2 

13 

France 

393 

322 

325 

202 

12 

9 

Belgium 

2C6 

188 

Ul 

93 

251 

396 

Holland 

17 

25 

17 

35 

13 

England 

41 

28 

32 

32 

1 

1 

United  States 

6 

6 

Total 

3,133 

3,195 
Imports 

3,379 
of  Pig 

3,105 
Irox 

3,311 

3,149 

From 

1911 

1912 

1913 

1914 

1915 

1916 

Germany 

656 

785- 

IQil 

553 

997 

637 

Austria 

9 

12 

7 

45 

129 

6 

France 

348 

392 

364 

242 

5 

20 

Belgium 

14 

19 

7 

England 

158 

139 

107 

35 

111 

Sweden 

8 

8 

5 

6 

121 

92 

United  States 

47 

Total 


1,165 


1,374 


1,229 


953 


1,287 


913 


Imports  of  Potatoes 


From 

1911 

1912 

1913 

1914 

1915 

1916 

Germany 

48 

48 

68 

21 

22 

59 

France 

10 

19 

8 

4 

4 

Italy 

8 

11 

14 

43 

6 

Austria 

9 

3 

2 

1 

HoUand 

1 

60 

3 

11 

Total 

80 

85 

94 

133 

30 

78 

Switzerland  and  the  American  Food  Supply 


73 


Total 


439 


Imports  of  Wheat 


From 

1911 

1912 

1913 

1914 

1915 

1916 

Russia 

220 

203 

186 

167 

17 

Roumania 

102 

141 

50 

11 

Canada 

46 

55, 

80 

60 

Argentine 

12 

13 

33 

18 

7 

58 

United  States 

24 

33 

151 

168 

458 

540 

486 


529 


441 


482 


598 


Total 


24 


Imports  of  Raw  Cotton 


From 

1911 

1912 

WIS 

1914 

1915 

1916 

United  States 

14 

15 

16 

9 

17 

16 

Egypt 

9 

10 

10 

11 

14 

10 

British  India 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

26 


27 


21 


32 


27 


These  five  tables  show  that  Switzerland  could.no  more  do 
without  German  coal,  iron  and  potatoes — the  same  is  true  of  several 
other  commodities,  notably  the  various  kinds  of  drugs  and  fertilizers 
— than  she  could  do  without  American  wheat  or  cotton. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  in  1916,  Switzerland  actually  imported 
more  wheat  than  in  the  years  before  the  war.  In  order  to  avoid 
any  possible  misinterpretation,  it  must  here  be  repeated  that  ever 
since  1914  no  wheat  nor  other  grain  has  been  exported  from  Swit- 
zerland to  the  central  powers,  except  in  the  shape  of  strictly  limited 
quantities  of  bread  destined  for  the  allied  prisoners  interned  in 
Germany  and  for  the  Swiss  citizens  resident  there.  These  exports, 
authorized,  controlled,  and  encouraged  by  the  allies,  have  never 
profited  any  of  their  enemies. 

Unhappily  for  Switzerland,  these  excess  imports  of  wheat  in 
1916  have  been  more  than  compensated  by  the  deficiency  of  the 
imports  of  almost  all  other  commodities  and  notably  of  almost  all 
other  foodstuffs  as  the  following  table  shows : 


u 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


General  Imports 

Annual  Average 

Total 

From  United  State» 

Commodities 

1910-191S 

1916 

1916 

Oats 

180 

96 

49 

Malt 

54 

19 

12 

Rye 

19 

1 

1 

Flour 

45 

4 

Macaroni  paste 

23 

Potatoes 

95 

78 

,  , 

Fresh  vegetables 

56 

25 

,  , 

Beans  and  peas 

8 

4 

Eggs 

14f 

3 

Butter 

5 

Poultry 

5 

2 

Fresh  meat 

13 

1 

Preserved  meat 

3 

1 

1 

Hay 

51 

1 

Bran 

13 

4 

4 

Flour  for  cattle 

53 

Rupe  cakes  and  carob  bean 

32 

27 

Petroleum 

65 

34 

12 

{in  thousands 

of  head) 

Bovine  cattle 

86 

3 

Swine 

65 

■     37 

Sheep 

116 

1 

THE   CASE  FOR   HOLLAND 

By  a.  G.  a.  Van  Eelde, 
Member  of  the  Netherlands  Mission  to  the  United  States. 

On  July  31,  1914,  Holland  began  mobilizing  its  army  and  navy, 
subsequently  set  to  increasing  and  equipping  them,  and  now  main- 
tains on  a  war  footing  about  half  a  million  of  men.  It  acted  thus, 
not  with  a  view  to  join  the  cause  of  either  of  the  belligerents,  but  to 
be  in  a  position  to  ward  off  any  hostile  attempt  on  the  integritj'^  of 
its  territory,  home  and  abroad.  It  pubHcly  declared  its  firm 
determination  to  remain  neutral. 

The  number  of  those  criticizing  this  line  of  conduct  was  of  no 
consequence  in  Holland,  but  rather  extensive  abroad.  It  was,  the 
latter  averred,  inconsistent  with  the  policyof  Holland  as  chronicled 
in  history  and  not  conformable  to  the  spirit  of  the  nation,  which 


The  Case  for  Holland  75 

was  well  known  to  be  liberty-loving  and  anti-militaristic.  Before 
long,  however,  the  dissenting  voices  became  faint  and  less  numer- 
ous. The  opinion  began  to  prevail  that  intervention  of  Holland  in 
the  war  could  only  be  done  at  a  ruinous  cost  to  itself,  would  be  of 
no  material  advantage  to  anybody  and  unlikely  to  promote  justice, 
until,  at  the  present  moment,  all  open-minded  critics  admit  the 
wisdom  of  Holland's  decision  to  stand  aloof,  showing  a  bold  face  on 
all  sides;  on  the  one  hand  ready  to  severely  punish  all  comers  who 
were  evilly  affected,  on  the  other  to  extend  its  alleviating  hands 
to  the  sufferers  of  all  nations. 

Those,  however,  who  think  that  Holland,  acting  as  it  does,  has 
a  chance  of  coming  off  with  a  whole  skin,  are  undei*  a  misapprehen- 
sion. What  with  the  upkeep  of  an  abnormally  sized  army,  the 
housing  and  boarding  of  thousands  and  thousands  of  interned 
soldiers  and  refugees,  what  with  the  government  distribution  of 
foodstuffs  and  other  commodities  to  its  population  at  prices  far 
below  the  absurdly  enhanced  cost  prices,  Holland  is  compelled  to 
raise  loans  and  taxes  of  unprecedented  magnitude. 

The  ever  increasing  difficulties  and  dangers  at  sea  seriously 
threaten  its  mercantile  and  fishing  fleets.  For,  were  it  not  for  the 
undaunted  determination  of  its  sailors  and  fishermen  who  never 
flinch  no  matter  what  perils  are  impending  over  them,  the  supplies 
of  indispensable  victuals  would  have  run  out  long  since.  As  it  is, 
supplies  are  scanty.  All  Holland  is  clamoring  for  more  bread  and 
fuel,  farmers  are  crying  out  for  fertilizers,  stock  owners  for  feeding 
stuffs,  manufacturers  for  coal  and  raw  materials.  For  Holland  is 
not  a  self-supporting  country  in  the  actual  sense  of  the  word. 

Formerly,  when  means  of  conveyance  were  limited  to  the  efforts 
of  human  and  animal  physical  power,  Holland  derived  its  necessa- 
ries of  life  mainly  from  its  own  soil.  On  the  victorious  entrance, 
however,  of  the  steam  engine,  transport — especially  marine  trans- 
port— became  swift,  cheap  and  reliable.  The  Dutch  farmer  realized 
that  cereals  could  be  grown  in  America  and  landed  in  his  own 
country  at  less  cost  than  he  could  raise  them  at  home;  he  stopped 
tilling  the  soil,  promptly  turned  his  arable  lands  into  grasslands  and 
applied  himself  to  cattle  raising,  his  efforts  resulting  in  the  creation 
of  a  cattle  breed,  justly  renowned  all  the  world  over — not  the  least 
in  the  United  States — for  its  milk  producing  qualities. 

The  manufacturer,  in  the  meantime,  kept  pace  with  the  farmer. 


76  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

He  left  to  others  the  providing  of  articles  which  could  be  landed 
more  cheaply  from  elsewhere,  and  limited  himself  to  the  manufac- 
ture of  such  articles  best  adapted  to  the  conditions  of  his  country, 
importing  his  raw  materials  from  abroad. 

Thus  it  came  to  pass  that  Holland,  like  England  and  like  Eng- 
land alone,  became  a  free  trading  country,  producing  what  it  is 
best  adapted  to  produce,  depending  for  most  of  its  cereals,  fuel  and 
raw  materials  on  the  available  surplus  production  in  other  countries 
imported  into  Holland  practically  dut}"  free. 

Only  one-fourth  of  the  total  amount  of  wheat  and  rye  needed 
for  bread  for  the  population  of  Holland  and  the  multitude  of  its 
guests,  grows  on  Dutch  soil.  The  balance  used  to  be  imported  from 
the  Baltic  provinces,  from  the  Black  Sea  provinces  and  from  Amer- 
ica. The  two  former  sources  being  cut  off  immediately  after  war 
broke  out,  stocks  of  wheat  and  rye  began  to  fall  dangerously  low  in 
Holland  in  August  and  September  of  1914,  causing  the  government 
to  step  in  and  to  establish  an  organization  of  its  own  for  the  pur- 
chase, the  transportation  and  home  distribution  of  said  cereals. 
The  government  reckoning  and — as  subsequent  events  proved — 
not  in  vain,  on  the  farmers  of  its  old  friend  of  long  tried  standing, 
the  United  States,  was  enabled  to  realize  its  designs,  avert  the 
threatening  bread  scare  and  to  create  a  sense  of  security.  Bread, 
howsoever,  was  procurable  in  diminished  rations  only. 

The  sense  of  security  following  upon  this  action  of  the  govern- 
ment was  not  confined  to  Holland  alone.  It  spread  to  Belgium  and 
to  the  north  of  France.  The  American  Commission  for  the  Relief 
of  Belgium  in  its  untiring  efforts  to  supply  the  needful  to  millions 
of  indigent  men,  women  and  children— a  gigantic  self-constituted 
task — once  in  a  while  ran  up  against  the  vicissitudes  of  fate  and 
found  itself  short  of  provisions.  Self  praise  is  no  recommendation, 
but  the  Belgian  Relief  Commission  will  bear  witness  to  the  fact 
that,  in  such  times  of  emergenc}^  the  Holland  government  was  ever 
willing  to  open  the  doors  of  its  storerooms,  thereby  releasing  the 
anxiety  of  the  Commission  and  its  crowd  of  famine  threatened 
chents.  On  those  occasions  the  people  of  Holland,  without  excep- 
tion, stood  by  its  government. 

Of  late,  however,  things  are  shaping  differently.  The  United 
States,  hitherto  a  neutral,  joined  the  belUgerents  and  was  com- 
pelled, so  as  to  protect  the  interests  of  self  and  allies,  to  stop  the 


The  Case  for  Holland  77 

exportation  of  sundry  commodities,  among  them  cereals,  pending 
the  result  of  stock  taking.  Subsequently  the  sense  of  security  in 
Holland,  in  Belgium  and  in  the  north  of  France  is  giving  place  to  a 
feeling  of  unrest.  What  between  the  alarming  news  that  no  more 
grain-laden  ships  are  to  be  expected  in  the  ports  of  Holland  within 
measurable  time,  and  the  prospect  of  the  importation  of  the  precious 
cereals  being  stopped  altogether,  once  more  the  fear  of  an  approach- 
ing bread  scare  is  looming  up  in  the  minds  of  the  people  of  Holland, 
of  Belgium  and  of  such  portions  of  France  as  are  occupied  today 
by  the  Germans.  Bread  rations  in  Holland  have  been  reduced  from 
.88  of  a  pound  to  .56  of  a  pound  per  day. 

The  importation  of  fertihzers  and  feeding  stuffs,  although  a 
matter  of  second  consideration  in  comparison  with  wheat  and  rye, 
is  of  vital  importance  to  Holland.  Lack  of  fertihzers  would  pre- 
clude farmers  and  cattle  breeders  from  turning  their  grasslands  to 
account  in  summer,  while  want  of  feeding  stuffs  would  render  the 
upkeep  of  cattle  in  winter  time  well  nigh  an  impossibility.  Cessa- 
tion of  importation  would  therefore  be  almost  on  a  par  with  a  na- 
tional calamity;  it  would  involve  the  immediate  slaughtering  of 
roughly  half  a  million  cattle,  half  a  million  pigs  and  half  a  million 
sheep;  it  would  put  a  stop  to  all  exportation,  to  alhes  and  centrals 
alike,  involving  dearth  of  fuel  and  raw  industrial  materials,  which 
Holland  is  in  the  habit  of  exchanging  against  its  surplus  production. 
Deprived  of  the  means  for  carrying  on  such  interchange,  in  other 
words  thrown  exclusively  on  its  own  resources,  Holland  might  be 
able  to  drag  on  its  existence,  but  only  at  an  excessive  cost  and  risk. 
Nearly  a  million  of  its  inhabitants,  about  one-seventh  of  its  popula- 
tion, would  have  to  walk  the  streets  unemployed.  Lately,  rumors 
are  afloat  giving  rise  to  the  belief  that  the  already  materially  reduced 
importation  of  fertilizers  and  feeding  stuffs  will  be  caused  to  stop 
altogether.  Holland,  realizing  the  far-reaching  consequences  of 
such  a  contingency,  is  anxiously  watching  coming  events. 

It  is  a  duty  incumbent  on  every  nation  to  pass  in  review,  from 
time  to  time,  its  conduct  in  the  past;  especially  so,  after  a  period 
of  three  years  of  warfare,  now  elapsed.  Holland  can  set  out  for 
the  performance  of  this  duty  with  a  clear  conscience,  full}^  confiding 
in  the  honesty  of  its  purpose  and  the  wisdom  of  its  leaders  chosen 
through  the  medium  of  its  democratic  institutions. 

At  the  opening  of  the  war  it  took  up  its  stand  as  a  neutral 


78  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

power,  a  position  criticized  at  first  by  some,  later  on  admitted  as 
being  correct  by  all  but  a  few.  It  has  since  acted  up  to  its  obliga- 
tions, playing  a  fair  and  open  game  with  everybody,  honestly  en- 
deavoring to  apply  the  same  standard  to  all  belligerents. 

It  has  suffered,  and  is  still  suffering,  but  it  strongly  feels  the 
unbecomingness  of  accentuating  its  own  burdens  wliile  millions  of 
fellowmen  are  sacrificing  their  all,  and  therefore  Holland  abstains 
from  doing  so.  At  the  same  time  there  must  be  no  misunderstand- 
ing. If  a  man  has  a  clear  conscience,  he  has  evidently  a  clear  case, 
and  is  entitled  to  a  respectful  hearing  and  an  impartial  judgment. 

The  case  for  Holland  is  a  clear  one.  She  expects  with  confi- 
dence unbiased  treatment. 


INTRODUCTORY 

By  The  Honorable  Roland  S.  Morris, 
American  Ambassador  to  Japan. 

"From  war,  pestilence  and  famine — Good  Lord  deliver  us," 
has  been  the  pleading  prayer  of  mankind  through  countless  genera- 
tions. As  Mr.  Ralph  A.  Graves  tells  in  a  recent  article,  "Grim, 
gaunt  and  loathsome  like  the  three  fateful  sisters  of  Greek  mythology, 
war,  famine  and  pestilence  have  decreed  untimely  death  for  the 
hosts  of  the  earth  since  the  beginning  of  time."  For  over  three 
years  we  have  increasingly  felt  the  baneful  influence  of  an  all  but 
world-wide  war.  Soberly,  earnestly  and  with  no  selfish  principle, 
but  with  undaunted  determination,  our  own  country  has  entered 
this  war  to  make  certain  that  human  liberty  "shall  not  perish  from 
the  earth."  To  this  cause  we  have  dedicated  without  reservation 
our  manhood,  our  national  wealth  and  our  individual  energies.  But 
what  of  pestilence  and  famine  with  which  human  experience  has 
linked  war  in  its  trinity  of  evils?  i 

Modern  science  has  grappled  with  pestilence  and  has  thus  far 
gained  a  victofy  which  it  seems  to  me  must  rank  among  the  greatest 
achievements  of,  the  human  intellect.  Just  consider  it  a  moment. 
For  three  years  millions  of  men  have  been  herded  together  under 
conditions  of  living  impossible  adequately  to  picture,  have  been  shot 
to  pieces  by  bullets,  shattered  by  shrapnel  and  shell,  seared  by 
liquid  fire  and  suffocated  by  poisonous  gases,  have  existed  in  narrow 
cramping  trenches  at  times  withered  by  an  almost  tropical  sun,  at 
others  chilled  to  the  marrow  by  a  biting  arctic  wind,  and  yet  thus 
far  have  been  mercifully  spared  from  the  added  horrors  of  that 
spectre  of  pestilence  which  for  ages  has  haunted  the  imagination  of 
mankind.  As  we  think  on  these  things  may  we  not  reverently  bow 
our  heads  in  gratitude  to  those  heroic  pioneers  of  science  who  in  the 
past  have  again  and  again  given  their  all  that  mankind  might  know 
the  secrets  of  disease  and  also  to  that  noble  army  of  doctors  (some 
from  our  own  city)  who  tonight  are  holding  at  bay  the  ever  impend- 
ing spectre  of  pestilence  which  constantly  threatens  that  far  flung 
battle  line  in  Europe. 

79 


80  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

And  famine?  Yes,  it  too  threatens  the  world,  and  we  are  here 
tonight  to  take  counsel  once  more  how  this  third  evil  may  be 
averted.  To  the  United  States  of  America  more  than  to  any  other 
of  the  alHes  this  question  comes  with  impelhng  force.  We  have 
ever  held  that  this  vast,  fertile  land  developed  by  the  vision  and 
energy  of  our  liberty-loving  pioneers  is  a  sacred  trust  to  be  adminis- 
tered for  the  benefit  of  mankind — and  when  the  test  came  and  our 
President  asked  us,  "Are  you  ready  now  that  liberty  is  threatened 
and  our  brothers  call  to  make  good  the  unselfish  professions  of  a 
century,"  the  answer  came  in  one  great  chorus  from  every  corner 
of  our  land  "We  are  ready." 

It  is  because  of  this  reponse  that  the  wealth  of  our  favored  land 
and  the  manhood  of  our  nation  is  now  dedicated  in  one  supreme 
effort  to  curb  forever  that  spirit  of  aggression  which  threatens  the 
right  of  every  liberty-loving  nation  to  develop  its  own  traditions  and 
conserve  its  ow^n  national  life. 

We  have  one  great  contribution  to  make  to  this  great  task. 
We  must  conserve  so  that  we  may  give  freely  of  our  food  resources 
to  our  allies  and  thus  meet  their  pressing  needs.  How  this  may 
best  be  done  has  been  the  central  theme  of  the  conference  now 
drawing  to, its  closeiand  we  are  fortunate  to  have  with  us  distin- 
guished representatives  of  our  allies  who  are  here  to  add  their  vital 
word  to  this  discussion.  Our  fertile  fields,  our  natural  resources,  our 
comparatively  small  population,  have  all  tended  I  fear  to  make  us  an 
extravagant  nation.  No  necessity  up  to  this  moment  has  forced  us 
to  give  due  thought  to  the  needs  of  economy  and  conservation. 
The  problem  is  a  new  one  to  us.  We  must  learn  the  lesson,  and 
where  could  we  better  first  turn  for  instruction  than  to  that  island 
Empire  with  its  experience  of  thousands  of  years,  which  has  learned 
through  that  experience  to  overcome  the  limitations  which  nature 
has  imposed  upon  it,  and  through  economy  and  thrift,  by  the  use  of 
every  square  foot  of  available  land,  and  by  the  saving  of  every 
ounce  of  product  has  reared  a  great  Empire,  developed  a  far-reach- 
ing civilization  and  given  to  the  world  an  art  and  a  literature  which 
has  made  a  profound  impression  on  the  standards  of  every  other 
nation. 


The  Food  Problem  of  Japan  81 

HOW  JAPAN   MEETS   ITS   FOOD   PROBLEM 

By  His  Excellency,  Viscount  Kikujiro  Ishii, 
Ambassador  of  Japan  on  Special  Mission. 

I  am  embarrassed  by  the  honor  you  have  done  me  in  thus  in- 
viting me  into  a  discussion  interesting  and  of  great  value  to  all  the 
wortd,  but  in  which  my  part  must  be  little  more  than  a  digression. 
Nevertheless,  it  would  be  unbecoming  in  me  should  I  fail  to  avail 
myself  of  your  courtesy  and  make  an  effort  to  inject  some  remarks 
which  may  perhaps  throw  light  upon  a  situation  and  a  condition 
foreign  to  the  surroundings  in  which  I  find  myself.  As  a  repre- 
sentative of  my  Emperor  and  my  countrymen,  I  came  to  tell  the 
government  and  the  people  of  the  United  States  in  all  sincerity 
and  earnestness  that  in  this  great  and  fearsome  struggle  in  which 
we  are  all  engaged,  the  East  and  the  West  must  meet  and  labor 
together  for  the  benefit  of  humanity,  and  that  Japan  is  prepared 
to  save  and  sacrifice  more  in  order  that  as  a  nation  she  may  live. 
We  in  Japan  have  not  been  idle  during  the  heat  of  the  day  so  far. 
In  our  own  small  way  we  have  endeavored  to  do  and  we  believe 
have  done  our  best  as  we  saw  what  we  had  to  do.  But  we  do  not 
underestimate  the  further  task  before  us  and  we  realize  that  the 
future  may  demand  further  self-sacrifice  and  conservation  of  our 
resources — all  for  the  common  good  in  cooperation  with  our  allies. 

We  have  had  special  opportunity  for  the  last  month  to  see 
something  of  the  vast  machinery  and  resources  at  the  command  of 
the  United  States  and  to  realize  how  much  from  its  surplus  there  is 
to  spare  and  how  much  can  be  conserved  as  the  time  of  stress  con- 
tinues. America  has  lived  in  magnificent  luxury.  America  has 
had  at  its  command  food  and  raw  material  undreamed  of  in  Japan. 
Indeed  you  have  little  idea  Jtiow  small  is  the  margin  between  plenty 
and  want  in  the  country  from  which  I  come  or  how  great  has  been 
our  sacrifice  to  the  cause  of  national  existence. 

I  have  noticed  while  I  have  been  here  discussions  in  the  maga- 
zines and  newspaper  press  of  this  country  on  "the  vast  increasing 
wealth  of  Japan."  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  these  publicists 
really  know  but  little  of  the  subject  with  which  they  deal.  In 
comparison  with  yours  the  so-called  "wealth  of  Japan"  sinks  into 
insignificance.     The  food  problem  with  us  is  not  serious  but  is 


8S  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

solved  by  frugality.  It  is  true  that  our  people  are  not  in  want,  be- 
cause their  requirements  are  limited  to  the  barest  necessities  of  life. 
We  have  a  very  small  area  of  food-producing  country  from  which  to 
draw,  and  by  necessity  every  bit  of  it  is  most  intensively  cultivated. 
The  food  of  our  people  consists  mainly  of  vegetables,  rice,  roots 
and  barley  grown  in  the  valleys  and  upon  the  hillsides  where  irriga- 
tion can  be  made  effective,  and  of  the  fish  that  are  drawn  from  the 
seas  which  surround  us. 

I  will  not  venture  too  far  into  statistics  for  that  might  be  danger- 
ous, but  I  am  convinced  you  would  be  startled  if  I  should  show  the 
cost  of  living  in  Japan  compared  with  the  present  cost  of  living  in 
America.  Even  you,  with  your  great  store  of  information,  would 
be  astonished  if  I  compared  the  bulk  of  our  national  wealth  with  the 
bulk  of  the  national  wealth  of  the  United  States.  A  comparison  of 
figures  for  1913  shows  that  this  great  city  of  Philadelphia — the 
ninth  in  point  of  importance  in  the  world — has  an  annual  industrial 
output  double  the  total  industrial  output  of  the  whole  state  of 
Japan.  The  United  States  has  a  population  approximating  100,- 
000,000  and  Japan  has  a  population  approximating  60,000,000. 
Japan's  area  is  considerably  smaller  than  that  of  the  state  of  Texas. 
This  alone  must  open  to  you  a  field  for  consideration  of  Japan  and  a 
ready  answer  when  you  are  asked  why  Japan  does  not  contribute 
more  to  the  war  in  Europe. 

It  is  only  ten  years  since  we  engaged  in  what  then  was  a  great 
struggle  for  a  national  existence.  The  figures  representing  our 
national  resources  and  our  national  debt  today  are  very  large  indeed 
compared  with  the  facts  of  our  resources  and  indebtedness  then. 
In  order  to  protect  our  nation  and  our  people,  to  preserve  that  in- 
dividuality as  a  nation  which  all  the  allied  nations  are  striving  for 
today,  a  call  for  self-denial  on  the  part  of  our  people  and  for  a 
frugality  of  which  some  people  have  even  now  little  conception  is 
necessary.  The  burden  laid  upon  our  people  is  still  being  patiently 
and  patriotically  borne.  For  the  last  ten  years  I  can  safely  say 
that  the  self-sacrifice  and  the  saving  of  the  great  mass  of  people  of 
Japan  has  been  a  splendid  tribute  to  the  virtue  and  value  of  patriot- 
ism, a  patriotism  so  abundantly  exhibited  in  the  allied  countries 
today.  We  were  prepared  then  and  we  are  prepared  now  to  save 
and  to  sacrifice  in  the  matter  of  foodstuffs  as  in  all  else,  in  order  to 
conserve  our  national  forces  and  unite  in  preserving  for  humanity 
an  individual  right  to  freedom  and  to  liberty. 


The  Food  Problem  of  Japan  83 

In  the  year  1868  the  total  export  and  import  trade  of  Japan 
amounted  to  a  Httle  more  than  $13,000,000.  In  1877  it  amounted 
to  $25,000,000  and  in  the  year  1913,  the  last  normal  year  of  trade, 
it  amounted  to  about  $600,000,000.  I  am  glad  to  say,  and  I  think 
it  is  a  significant  fact  to  relate  here  to  you,  that  of  this  total  Japan 
has  done  more  business  with  the  United  States  than  she  has  with 
any  other  country  in  the  world — a  condition  which  is  emphasized 
more  in  these  abnormal  times  than  it  was  during  the  normal.  Our 
trade  with  the  United  States  in  1913  amounted  to  about  30  per  cent 
of  our  total  foreign  trade.  I  am  giving  you  figures,  not  as  presuming 
to  inform  you,  but  in  order  that  I  may  emphasize  and  you  may 
consider  the  resources  of  Japan  when  you  estimate  the  share  we 
should  bear  in  the  future  of  the  food  distribution. 

Permit  me  to  offer  you  again,  and  perhaps  to  bore  you  with,  a 
further  statement  which  may  be  illustrative  of  the  resources  of  our 
country  at  a  time  when  we  are  called  upon  to  contribute  men,  money 
and  material  to  the  winning  of  this  war.  In  1877  the  total  annual 
state  revenue  of  Japan  was  a  little  under  $30,000,000,  and  in  1913 
the  total  annual  state  revenue  of  Japan  was  a,  little  under  $300,000,- 
000,  not  a  very  large  sum  in  the  face  of  the  thousands  of  millions  you 
can  spare. 

Additional  figures  may  again  help  you  to  understand  to  what 
extent  we  are  obliged  to  impose  upon  our  people  a  frugality  which  is 
borne  with  a  due  sense  of  responsibility  by  the  individual  to  the 
state.  In  the  year  immediately  preceding  the  great  struggle  for 
our  national  existence,  the  amount  of  national  debt  outstanding 
was  a  little  more  than  $220,000,000.  In  the  year  immediately  fol- 
lowing peace  it  was  a  little  over  $2,000,000,000.  Today  our  taxes 
are  very  heavy  indeed ;  proportionately  as  heavy,  I  find,  as  those 
imposed  recently  on  the  people  of  this  country. 

I  have  finished  with  figures,  and  have  only  injected  them  to 
give  a  comparative  idea  of  resources.  A  like  proportion  would 
apply  to  the  earning  capacity  of  the  laboring  classes  and  the 
margin  to  spare  from  their  earnings.  I  assure  you  that  until  we 
realize  the  enormous  difference  in  the  cost  of  living  in  Japan  and 
the  United  States,  that^comparison  with  the  earnings  of  your 
people  is  staggering. 

Now  you  will  certainly  agree  with  me  that  national  economy — 
which  is  represented  by  the  frugality  of  the  great  mass  of  the  people 


I 


84  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

and  not  by  lavish  expenditure  of  a  few  individuals — is  as  essential 
to  the  life  of  a  nation  as  is  economy  to  the  existence  or  the  credit  of  a 
firm  or  individual.  Also  you  will  agree  with  me  that  the  figures 
representing  the  business  of  a  nation,  firm  or  individual,  during 
these  abnormal  times,  should  not  be  taken  into  consideration  or  into 
estimation  as  the  normal  resources  on  which  such  states  or  indi- 
viduals may  base  their  present  estimates  for  future  j'^ears. 

The  independence  of  a  nation  as  the  independence  of  an  indi- 
vidual is  measured  by  income,  expenditure  and  indebtedness.  Our 
credit  has  been  created  by  a  frugality  of  living  and  a  sacrifice  of  the 
individual  to  the  state  in  order  that  the  state,  the  nation  and  the 
individual  may  survive.  We  are  endeavoring  to  conserve  that 
credit  so  as  to  insure  our  independence.  At  the  same  time  we 
are  expending,  and  we  are  ready  to  expend  funds  drawn  from  a 
frugal  people  in  a  cause  which  means  to  us  the  same  as  it 
means  to  you — a  free  independent  life  for  the  nation  and  for  the 
individual. 


FOOD   l^OR   FRANCE   AND   ITS   PUBLIC   CONTROL 

By  Francois  Monod, 
"Chef  de  Cabinet  to  the  French  High  Commissioner  in  the  United  States. 

Without  attempting  to  present  a  complete  and  authbritative 
review  of  the  conditions  prevailing  in  France  as  regards  the  food 
question,  I  think  it  may  be  worth  while  to  state  here  at  least 
some  of  the  main  facts  or  figures  evidencing  the  difficulties  with 
which  France  has  had  and  is  having  to  contend  during  the  war 
in  order  to  supply  the  needs  of  her  civilian  population  and  of 
her  armies. 

Emphasizing  first  the  decrease  of  production  and  the  increase 
in  prices,  I  will  thereafter  outline  the  main  measures  taken  in 
France  in  order  either  to  make  up  for  the  shortage  of  agricultural 
workers  or  to  regulate  consumption,  to  remedy  the  deficiency  of 
production  and  to  provide  a  sufficiency  of  the  essential  foodstuffs, 


Food  for  France  and  its  Public  Control  85 

I.  Shortage  of  Agricultural   Handwork  and   Deficit  of 
Native  Production 

1.  In  France  during  the  war  the  whole  food  situation  has  been 
controlled  by  an  extensive  and  critical  shortage  of  agricultural 
handwork.  Obvious  are  the  reasons  accounting  for  that  main 
fact  of  the  situation.  Seven  million  men  up  to  the  age  of  forty- 
eight  years  have  been  taken  in  France  for  army  service.  It  would 
be  difficult  to  overstate  the  consequences  of  such  a  wholesale 
mobilization  of  our  manhood  amongst  a  nation  which  has  been  for 
centuries  and  which  is  still  foremost  a  nation  of  agriculturists,  of 
food  producers.  Though  accurate  statistical  data  are  not  easily 
procurable,  I  think  that  a  round  figure  and  safe  estimate  of  the 
number  of  agriculturists  in  the  French  army  during  the  war 
would  not  prove  to  be  under  four  or  five  million  men.  This 
includes  without  exception  all  the  younger  and  stronger  male 
peasantry. 

Then  there  is  to  be  taken  into  account  the  invasion  and  long 
detention  of  a  large  part  of  northern  France  by  the  Germans  which 
means  the  loss,  during  the  war,  up  to  the  present  day,  of  some  of 
.our  best  managed  and  most  productive  wheat  growing  districts, 
and  the  enforced  employment  of  their  agricultural  resources  and 
handwork  for  the  benefit  of  Germany, 

South  of  the  invaded  districts  along  the  front  in  the  "army 
zone,"  that  a  large  acreage  of  agricultural  soil  is  lying  uncultivated 
and  idle  is  another  fact  not  to  be  overlooked.  Wheat  is  not  grown 
on  a  shell-torn  ground  and  the  main  crops  of  that  long  belt  from  the 
French  Flanders  to  the  south  part  of  the  Vosges,  to  the  border  of 
Switzerland,  are  barbed  wire.  The  varying  breadth  of  that  belt, 
extending  far  behind  the  actual  "no  man's  land,"  is  easily  several 
miles. 

Then  there  is  to  be  mentioned  last,  a  deficiency  of  the  essential 
fertilizers  all  over  France.  The  import  of  nitrates  is  cut  short  by 
the  growing  contraction  of  available  tonnage  and  by  the  scarcity  of 
shipping  from  the  far  distant  sources  of  supply  in  Chile. 

2.  A  heavy  decrease  of  production  has  unavoidably  been 
following  such  unsatisfactory  conditions  of  cultivation.  Wheat 
has  ever  been  the  staple  food  of  France.  Amongst  all  classes  over 
the  country  bread  is  the  main  article  of  consumption,  the  actual 


86  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

basis  of  the  French  nation's  feeding,  even  more  so  especially  in  the 
case  of  our  peasants,  that  is  to  say  of  the  majority  of  the  nation 
with  whom  bread  actually  takes  to  the  largest  extent  the  place  of 
meat  as  a  foodstuff. 

In  peace  times  the  wheat  production  of  France  was  about 
equal  to  our  consumption,  sometimes  slightly  inferior  to  our  needs, 
sometimes  slightly  superior  and  allowing  a  thin  margin  of  surplus. 
This  meant  a  crop  of  about  90,000,000  French  cwt.^  on  the  average. 
Since  the  war,  production  decreased  to: 

82,000,000  French  cwt.  in  1914 
75,000,000  French  cwt.  in  1915 
58,000,000  French  cwt.  in  1916. 
38,000,000  French  cwt.  in  1917  (estimate) 

Thus,  compared  with  the  normal  production,  the  present 
wheat  production  of  France  indicates  a  decrease  of  over  50  per  cent 
in  the  native  supply  of  the  staple  food. 

As  regards  meat  the  unavoidable  depletion  of  our  resources  in 
livestock  has  been  made  much  heavier  by  the  huge  needs  of  the 
army.  In  the  army  the  meat  consumption  per  head  amounts  to 
about  400  "grammes,"  a  little  less  than  one  English  pound,  a  day. 
This  means  an  exceedingly  heavy  additional  burden  on  our  re- 
sources in  livestock  on  account  not  only  of  the  tremendous  con- 
sumption of  meat  at  such  a  rate  in  an  army  of  several  million  men, 
but  on  account  of  the  fact  that  the  peasants,  contributing  the 
largest  part  of  the  army's  establishment  are,  as  already  stated, 
consuming  very  little  meat  in  peace  time. 

In  round  figures  the  decrease  of  the  livestock  in  France  since 
the  end  of  1913  runs  as  follows: 

End  1913  14,787,000  bovine  species 
End  1913  16,138,000  ovine  species 
End  1913    7,035,000  pigs 
End  1916  12,341,000  bovine  species 
End  1916  10,845,000  ovine  species 
End  1916    4,361,000  pigs 

meaning  thus,  at  the  end  of  1916,  a  decrease  of  about: 

2,440,000  bovine  species 
5,700,000  ovine  species 
2,700,000  pigs 

'  French  cwt.  =  220  English  pounds. 


Food  for  France  and  its  Public  Control  8^ 


II.  Increase  in  the  Prices  of  Foodstuffs 

1.  The  increase  in  price  for  wheat  has  been  balancing  almost 
exactly  the  decrease  in  production. 


Average  Price  of  Native  Wheat 
Before  the  war    22  francs  per  French  cwt. 

1914  30  francs  per  French  cwt. 

1915  36  francs  per  French  cwt. 

1916  50  francs  per  French  cwt. 


which  means  in  1916  an  increase  of  over  50  per  cent. 

2.  The  price  'of  meat  has  been  rising  in  a  similar  proportion  and 
an  increase  of  circa  50  per  cent  may  safely  be  stated  as  an  index 
for  the  rising  in  the  prices  of  all  the  main  foodstuffs. 

3.  The  price  of  bread  though  shows  a  comparatively  small  in- 
crease. The  peacetime  price  was  35-40  centimes  per  kilogram 
on  the  average;  the  war  price  did  not  rise  over  50  centimes.  The 
explanation  of  such  a  paradoxical  fact  is  that  the  price  of  bread  was 
artificially  and  deliberately  kept  down  by  the  government  burden- 
ing public  finances  with  a  heavy  extra  war  burden.  On  account 
of  the  paramount  importance  of  the  question  of  bread,  the  French 
government  adopted  the  policy  of  paying  from  public  moneys  the 
difference  between  the  prices  corresponding  to  the  actual  market 
quotations  of  wheat  and  the  price  of  bread  as  stated  above  (50 
centimes).  Thus  a  steady,  abnormal  and  uncontrollable  increase 
of  wages  amongst  the  community  at  large  and  other  undesirable 
results  which  would  have  followed  as  regards  the  price  of  bread 
were  avoided. 

III.  Sketch   of   the   Public   Measures   Taken    to    Control 
THE  Food  Situation 

Important  public  measures  have  been  taken  to  make  up  for  the 
deficiency  of  agricultural  handwork,  to  regulate  or  to  lessen  con- 
sumption and  to  provide  supplies. 

1 .  All  over  France  private  initiative  amongst  the  agricultural 
community  did  wonders  in  order  to  keep  the  production  as  large 
as  possible.  All  the  people  who  were  not  in  the  army,  the  old  men, 
the  women,  the  boys  under  military  age  displayed  great  physical 
and  moral  courage  in  taking,  as  regards  agricultural  work,  the  place 
of  the  millions  of  men  at  the  front.     They  directed  the  work — 


88  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

many  women  have  themselves  been  running  even  large-sized  farms 
during  the  war — or  they  spent  themselves  tirelessly  in  the  manual 
work  involved  by  the  daily  business  of  farming;  they  took  care  of 
the  cattle,  of  the  horses;  they  performed  ably  the  ploughing,  seed- 
ing, harvesting  operations. 

Under  such  trying  conditions  they  went  on  with  the  cultiva- 
tion of  the  fields  as  far  as  possible  even  in  the  zone  behind  the 
actual  front,  many  times  in  shelled  districts.  Near  villages  located 
behind  the  trench  line  I  have  often  seen  women  or  old  men,  bent 
in  two,  weeding  or  hoeing  without  taking  notice  of  the  casual  land- 
ing of  shells  in  the  near  fields. 

2.  This  strenuous  endeavor  has  been  helped  and  stimulated 
by  special  organizations  created  under  the  authority  of  the  Ministry 
of  Agriculture. 

Under  the  supervision  of  the  communal  authorities  and  with 
the  help  of  the  local  agents  of  the  Ministry  of  Agriculture,  a  special 
local  cooperation  was  organized  in  the  rural  townships,  bringing 
about  a  local  pooling  of  agricultural  resources  of  machinery, 
draught  horses,  seeds  and  of  handwork  to  some  extent. 

Special  military  measures,  besides,  weie  taken  for  the  same 
purpose.  A  certain  amount  of  supplementary  agricultural  hand- 
work was  provided  in  two  ways:  first,  by  granting,  as  far  as  possible 
long  furloughs  to  soldiers  of  the  older  "classes,"  and  second,  of 
late,  by  the  release  of  the  1889  and  1890  "classes,"  aged  forty- 
seven  and  forty-eight  years.  Another  kind  of  military  cooperation 
was  extended  in  the  army  zone  itself  in  the  villages  located  behind 
the  line,  by  the  temporary  use  of  smaller  groups  of  soldiers  and 
of  army  horses  in  agricultural  work,  helping  the  peasants  on 
the  spot  and  reclaiming  part  of  the  fields  left  idle  since  the  war 
began. 

Then  the  German  army  herself  contributed  another  welcome 
addition  of  handwork — mobile  squads  of  German  prisoners  put  at 
the  disposal  of  many  of  our  rural  communities  have  been  fairly 
extensively  employed  by  our  peasants  in  various  districts.  They 
were  well  treated  and  well  fed  and  the  results  proved  satisfactory. 
Provided  they  are  kept  under  a  sufficiently  strict  military  discipline, 
the  German  prisoners  are  submissive  and  willing  to  work. 

Last,  another  addition  of  hands  was  offered  by  importing 
natives  volunteering  from  Algeria.     The  Kabyles,  one  of  the  main 


Food  for  France  and  its  Public  Control  89 

races  of  French  Northern  Africa,  are  sedentary  peasants.  For 
months  squads  of  turbaned  Kabyles  have  been  seen  with  us,  em- 
ployed not  only  as  street  sweepers  in  Paris,  but  in  several  rural 
districts,  mixing  unexpectedly  as  agricultural  laborers  with  the 
old  peasantry  of  France. 

3.  So  much  as  regards  handwork  and  cultivation.  Regarding 
the  regulation  of  consumption  and  the  victualling,  the  most  impor- 
tant public  provision  has  been  the  buying  of  all  wheat  imports  by 
the  French  government.  This  resulted  in  regulating  automatic- 
ally the  prices  of  the  native  wheat  and  in  preventing  speculation 
in  the  interior  market. 

Since  December,  1916,  this  organization  has  been  extended  and 
completed  by  the  creation  of  a  national  Ministry  of  Supplies 
(Minist^re  du  Ravitaillement). 

4.  A  series  of  food  laws  have  been  further  enacted: 

a.  Increase  of  the  proportion  of  the  wheat  grain  used  in  the  bolting  for  the 
making  of  flour. 

b.  Institution  of  two  meatless  days  per  week  and  reduction  of  the  menu  of 
meals  in  hotels  and  restaurants  to  three  courses  only. 

c.  Institution  of  sugar  cards  reducing,  monthly,  the  sugar  consumption  to 
750  grammes,  and  later  to  400  grammes  per  head. 

Besides  food  laws  proper,  there  ought  still  to  be  mentioned  in 
connection  with  them  the  institution  of  coal  cards  regulating  the 
supply  of  coal  for  home  consumption.  This  democratic  provi- 
sion is  preventing  the  well-to-do  from  buying  at  high  piices, 
thereby  increasing  the  general  retail  market  price  for  the  larger 
part  of  the  population. 

IV.  Interallied  Measures 

The  carrying  out  of  these  national  measures  has  been  seconded 
by  a  general  interallied  undei standing.  An  interallied  "wheat 
executive"  (December,  1916)  and  recently  a  "meats  and  fats 
executive"  have  been  appointed  by  France,  Great  Britain  and 
Italy,  thereby  providing  an  interallied  buying  and  apportionment 
of  imported  supplies. 

V.  American  Cooperation 

The  aims  and  results  of  the  food  control  organized  in  the 
United  States  are  well  known.     The  allies  are  concerned  by  the 


90  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

national  husbanding  of  American  resources  and  by  the  controlling 
of  food  exports.  After  provisions  are  'made  for  the  national  con- 
sumption the  available  surplus  is  kept  for  supplying  the  needs  of 
the  allies. 

This  American  cooperation  has  been  meeting  with  a  very 
special  appreciation  in  France  as  regards  the  supplies  provided  in 
the  past  and  in  the  present  to  hundreds  of  thousands  of  our  unfor- 
tunate countrymen  who  are  still  enslaved  under  German  bondage 
and  oppression  in  northern  France.  Those  people  have  been  and 
are  under  much  worse  conditions  than  the  Belgians  and  their 
pitiful,  exceedingly  critical  situation  at  present  is  a  matter  of  grave 
anxiety.  If  they  have  not  literally  starved,  if  they  have  not  died 
out,  this  was  due  entirely  to  the  Belgian  Relief  Commission  opera- 
ting in  northern  France. 

From  this  standpoint  no  adequate  tribute  could  be  paid  to 
the  former  Director  of  the  Commission  of  Belgian  ReUef,  to  the 
present  United  States  Food  Controller,  Mr.  Herbert  Hoover,  to 
his  genius  for  organization,  to  the  generous  and  tireless  activities 
of  Mr.  Hoover  and  of  his  staff,  to  their  firmness  in  deahng  with 
German  authorities  in  invaded  territories  and  in  upholding  Ameri- 
can rights  for  the  benefit  of  our  countrymen.  Amongst  many 
American  names  forever  dear  to  us,  the  name  of  Mr.  Hoover  will 
ever  be  remembered  by  the  French  nation  with  a  deep  and  affec- 
tionate gratitude. 

VI.  Conclusion 

The  conclusion  to  be  derived  from  this  review  of  the  food  situa- 
tion in  France  is  plain  enough.  In  her  sustenance,  France  has  been 
depending  upon  imports  in  an  increasing  way.  Upon  an  adequate 
supply  of  foodstuffs  as  well  as  of  coal,  and  of  the  other  main  war 
supply — steel — depends  in  the  present  and  in  the  near  future  the 
further  resistance  of  our  civilian  population  and  the  sustenance  of 
our  armies,  who,  after  having  borne  the  main  brunt  of  the  fight 
for  three  years,  are  still  defending  about  three-quarters  of  the 
western  front  and  acting  as  the  main  rampart  of  the  allied 
cause. 

Considering  the  main  food  supply — wheat — only  the  needs 
of  France  are  emphasized  by  the  present  condition  of  crops. 
Taking  100  as  indexing  a  very  good  crop,  while  the  crop  of  1916 


Food  Problem  of  Great  Britain  &1 

winter  wheat  was  not  classed  higher  than  64,  a  very  poor  crop  is 
indicated  by  this  year's  probable  index  56.^ 

Needless  to  say  an  increase  in  the  supply  of  foodstuffs  means 
finally  an  increase  of  the  tonnage  available  for  imports  in  France. 
For  France  thus,  from  the  point  of  view  of  American  cooperation, 
the  supply  of  tonnage  stands  out  as  the  vital  issue. 


THE  FOOD  PROBLEM  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN;  THE  SHIP- 
PING  PROBLEM   OF   THE   WORLD 

By  Arthur  Pollen,  Esq., 

London,  England. 

I  can  only  direct  your  attention  to  one  or  two  salient  and  really 
rather  startling  facts.  Before  the  war  we  used  to  import  13,000,- 
000  tons  of  food,  a  shade  more  than  one-quarter  of  our  total  im- 
ports measured  by  weight.  We  grew  at  home  about  one-fifth  of 
the  wheat  we  required  and  about  one-half  the  country's  consump- 
tion of  beef,  mutton,  bacon,  etc.  Within  the  past  six  months 
great  efforts  have  been  made  for  an  organized  reduction  in  the 
consumption  of  food  and  an  organized  increase  in  its  production. 
The  results  are  unexpectedly  satisfactory.  Our  consumption  of 
bread  is  reduced  by  25  per  cent  on  the  average,  and  by  more  in  some 
districts.     Further  economies  undoubtedly  can  be  made.     The 

"The  decrease  of  the  1917  crops  compared  to  the  1916  ones  is  noticeable 
for  all  cereals.  Reports  based  on  unpublished  official  estimates  give  the  follow- 
ing figures  for  1917: 

Metric  ions 
Wheat  3,950,000 

Spelt  90,000 

Rye  700,000 

Barley  700,000 

Oats  3,500,000 

Corresponding  figures  for  1916  were  in  round  figures: 

Metric  tons 
Wheat  5,841,000 

Spelt  111,000 

Rye  911,000 

Barley  857,000 

Oats  4,127,000 


92  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

meat  reduction  is  greater  and  we  have  more  than  doubled  our  pro- 
duction of  cereals.  We  used  to  grow  enough  for  ten  weeks.  This 
supply  would  now  last  us  thirteen  or  fourteen  weeks.  We  have 
nearly  doubled  the  old  supply  which  gives  us  six  months'  wheat 
grown  in  the  country.  But  we  are  growing  other  things  which 
should  progressively  take  the  place  of  wheat,  and  in  the  last  year 
we  have  greatly  increased  our  stocks.  It  looks,  therefore,  as  if  the 
food  supply  of  Great  Britain  could  be  assured  to  the  end  of  1918  and 
that  no  anxiety  on  this  score  need  be  felt. 

The  food  problem  of  the  world  is  governed  not  only  by  the 
demand  for  food  in  one  country  and  by  the  total  supply  of  avail- 
able food  in  others,  but  by  the  problem  of  shipping  the  food  from  one 
country  to  another.  This  problem  has  been  made  infinitely  grave, 
not  only  for  the  period  during  which  the  war  lasted,  but  quite 
obviousl}^  for  a  considerable  period  after  it.  It  has  been  made 
grave  by  the  enemy's  having  adopted  a  method  in  sea  war  to 
which  there  was  no  precedent  in  civilized  times. 

It  is  fortunate  for  the  world  that  the  pirates'  progress  of  Ger- 
many has  been  a  development  and  did  not  open  in  1914  at  the  full 
tide  of  its  present  heartless  villainy.  The  captains  of  the  Emden 
and  Karlsruhe,  and  of  the  armed  cruisers  that  took  between  fifty 
and  sixty  British  ships  in  the  opening  months  of  the  war,  never 
injured  a  British  seaman  or  hurt  a  passenger.  Mtiller  of  the  Em.- 
den  was  a  model  of  courteous  deportment  in  this  respect.  The 
captain  of  the  Eitel  Fritz  was,  I  think,  the  first  to  break  with  the 
civilized  tradition.  The  rule  of  international  law,  as  you  all  know, 
is  that  normally  all  prizes  must  be  taken  into  port.  The  captor  has 
no  final  right  in  them  until  a  court  of  law  has  found  them  to  be 
legal  prize.  In  very  exceptional  cases  they  may  be  destroyed  at 
sea.  The  Germans  had  to  make  the  exception  the  rule.  When 
the}^  took  a  prize,  therefore,  the  problem  presented  itself  how  were 
the  crews  and  passengers  to  be  disposed  of.  Von  Miiller  put  the 
crews  and  passengers  taken  from  separate  prizes  into  one  ship,  which 
he  kept  with  him  until  it  was  full,  and  would  then  send  that  ship 
to  a  British  port.  He  may  have  strained  the  law  in  sinking  ships 
without  legal  procedure,  but  his  treatment  of  his  prisoners  was 
exemplary.  The  captain  of  the  Eitel  Fritz  took  them  aboard  his 
own  ship  and  kept  them  confined  below  decks,  and  there  they 
remained  prisoners  until  he  surrendered  himself  to  internment  at  an 


Food  Problem  of  Great  Britain  93 

American  harbor.  His  captives,  therefore,  were  exposed  day 
after  day  to  the  risk  of  death,  for  had  he  met  a  British  cruiser,  he 
must  have  been  engaged  and  destroyed. 

When  the  submarine  war  began  and  the  indiscriminate  sowing 
of  mines,  all  considerations  of  humanity  were  thrown  to  one  side. 
But  here  too  -there  was  a  development  in  brutality.  Where  the 
submarine  was  not  risked,  crews  and  passengers  were  originally 
given  a  chance  to  get  into  the  boats.  But  it  was  found  that  too 
many  ships  escaped  under  this  proceeding,  and  it  was  quite  clearly 
realized  that  the  only  way  of  making  war  on  trade  effective,  was  to 
sink  always  at  sight.  This  could  not  be  done  without  declaring 
war  on  all  the  world.  And  after  some  years  of  it,  all  the  world 
now  seems  to  be  declaring  war  on  Germany.  But  I  am  less  con- 
cerned at  this  moment  to  expatiate  on  German  villainy  than  to 
direct  your  attention  to  an  economic  result  which  must  flow  from  it. 
The  submarine  campaign  has  very  gravely  diminished  the  world's 
supply  of  ships.  Now  when  the  war  ends  it  is  precisely  ships 
that  will  be  more  wanted  than  anything  else.  The  homes,  the 
railroads,  the  factories,  the  bridges  and  the  roads  of  a  great  deal  of 
Europe  will  have  to  be  entirely  rebuilt,  reequipped,  remade.  It  is 
work  that  must  be  done  at  the  highest  possible  speed.  If  the 
manufacture  and  agriculture  of  Europe  are  to  be  restored,  raw 
material,  lubricants  and  fertilizers  must  be  imported  in  vast 
amounts.  Over  the  greater  part  of  Europe  the  soil  is  exhausted, 
and  without  fertilizers  the  crops  must  continue  very  small  after  the 
war  is  over.  For  some  years,  then,  the  European  demand  for 
imported  food  will  be  just  as  great  as  the  demand  for  steel,  cement, 
tools  and  raw  material.  None  of  these  things  can  be  taken  from  the 
countries  where  the  supply  exists.  North,  Central  and  South 
\merica,  Australia,  New  Zealand,  India,  China  and  Japan,  without 
shipping.  The  demand  for  shipping,  therefore,  may  be  nearly 
twice  what  it  was  before  the  war,  and  that  demand  will  have  to  be 
met  by  a  very  gravely  depleted  supply.  The  depletion  has  been 
brought  about  by  methods  of  war  not  only  illegitimate  but  in- 
describably barbarous  and  horrible.  The  country  that  has  in- 
vented and  practiced  these  methods  has  a  considerable  shipping 
unemployed  today  in  its  own  harbors.  The  German  merchants 
and  importers  will  be  candidates  for  cargoes  of  all  sorts,  and  es- 
pecially for  cargoes  of  food,  which  they  will  want  to  carry  in  their 
own  bottoms  when  the  war  is  over. 


§4  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

I  therefore  put  this  problem  to  this  learned  society.  Dismiss 
if  you  like  from  your  minds  every  vindictive  thought,  abandon 
every  plan  for  punishing  these  unnatural  and  murderous  innova- 
tions that  have  taken  the  place  of  the  old  chivalry  of  the  sea,  but 
even  if  you  renounce  the  principles  of  direct  and  active  punish- 
ment, is  it  reasonable  to  suppose  that  you  will  forget  who  have 
been  the  authors  of  these  crimes?  And  if  you  do  not  forget,  if  the 
world  remembers,  then  surely  when  the  readjustments  come  after 
the  war  and  Europe  has  to  be  restored,  surely  then  Germany  will 
be  told  that 'her  needs  will  be  the  last  that  will  be  met. 

Make  no  mistake  about  it.  Whether  the  war  ends  this  year 
or  next,  or  the  year  after,  Europe  is  faced  by  a  five  years'  shortage 
of  food,  which  may  well  mean  five  years'  famine.  It  is  a  situation 
that  it  will  be  very  difficult,  nay,  impossible  to  meet  by  the  individ- 
ualistic operations  of  trade  which  governed  the  world  commerce 
before  the  war.  The  national  necessities  of  every  country  have 
driven  the  allies  into  governmental  control  of  the  supply  and 
now  of  the  distribution  of  raw  material  and  food.  This  will  have  to 
be  continued  when  the  war  is  over  unless  grave  injustice  is  to  be 
done.  Whatever  the  economic  principles  we  profess,  we  are  here 
faced  by  a  purely  human  problem  which  nothing  but  national 
action,  and  indeed  international  concerted  action,  can  deal  with. 
And  I  suggest  to  you  that  it  should  be  a  first  principle  in  this  action 
that  those  who  have  brought  about  the  present  chaos,  who  are  the 
authors  of  the  hideous  destruction  that  has  taken  place,  who  were 
the  prime  cause  of  the  overwhelming  wants  Europe  will  feel  when 
the  war  is  over,  and  the  direct  creators  of  the  main  difficulties  in 
meeting  them — these  people  should  be  the  last  to  be  served. 
Whatever  the  issue  of  the  war,  this  is  a  matter  which  it  will  be  in 
the  allies'  hands  to  settle. 


SOME   ESSENTIALS   TO   A   SAFE  DIET 

By  E.  V.  McCoLLUM, 
School  of  Hygiene  and  Public  Health,  Johns  Hopkins  University. 

In  my  association  during  the  summer  in  Washington  with  the 
various  women  in  the  field  of  home  economics  who  were  working  in 
association  with  the  food  administration,  I  saw  a  great  many  charts 
and  illustrations  regarding  comparative  food  values,  and  I  was 
struck  particularly  with  one  type  of  product  which  came  from 
various  sources.  I  refer  to  such  charts  as  illustrate  the  cost  of  a 
hundred  calories  of  energy  or  the  cost  of  a  pound  of  digestable  pro- 
tein. In  such  charts  we  find  invariably  that  for  a  dollar  one  can 
purchase  the  greatest  amount  of  energy  in  the  form  of  one  of  the 
cereal  grains  or  their  milled  products,  depending  upon  the  market 
price  at  the  particular  time.  The  cheapest  energy  foods  are  those 
that  are  derived  from  the  cereal  grains 

Now  what  effect  will  the  distribution  of  such  illustrative  matter 
broadcast  over  the  land  have  upon  the  dietary  habits  of  the  people 
of  the  United  States  at  the  present  time?  I  think  the  answer  is 
clear.  Never  before  has  the  cost  of  foodstuffs  risen  to  the  present 
point.  It  is  taxing  very  seriously  the  budget  of  numerous  house- 
holds to  meet  the  food  requirements  of  the  family.  I  feel  that  there 
is  an  element  of  danger  in  giving  the  housewife  this  information  with- 
out supplementing  it  with  further  advice  to  enable  her  to  make  a  wise 
selection  of  food  so  that  her  list  of  purchases  will  provide  a  safe  diet. 

I  am  told  that  the  recent  rise  in  the  price  of  milk  in  some  of  the 
large  cities  has  already  reduced  the  consumption  of  milk  by  the 
people.  Under  the  stress  of  poverty  the  list  of  foods  purchased 
becomes  restricted  and  more  and  more  the  tendency  is  to  use  prin- 
cipally wheat  bread,  corn  bread,  oatmeal,  rice,  peas  and  beans,  or 
dishes  prepared  from  these,  so  that  the  diet  becomes  derived  almost 
wholly  from  the  seeds  of  plants.  The  charts  of  food  values  to  which 
I  have  referred  encourage  women  who  are  alert  and  anxious  to  study 
the  food  problems,  to  buy  just  such  a  list  of  foods  as  that  just  enu- 
merated.    Milk  and  green  vegetables  do  not  appear  to  the  average 


96  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

housewife  to  be  economical  purchases  because  they  contain  much 
water  and  do  not  compare  favorably,  pound  for  pound,  with  the  dry 
cereal  grains. 

Milk  and  Green  Vegetables  Imperative 

It  is  so  important  that  the  diet  should  contain  a  certain  amount 
of  milk  and  green  vegetables  because  of  the  special  values  which 
these  possess  from  the  dietary  standpoint,  that  I  want  to  place  spe- 
cial emphasis  upon  this  point  and,  furthermore,  I  want  to  show  you 
why  a  diet  consisting  too  largely  of  cereal  grains  will  not  induce 
optimum  nutrition. 

There  has  long  prevailed  in  the  discussions  of  matters  relating 
to  nutrition,  the  idea  that  the  essential  constituents  of  the  normal 
diet  are  protein,  carbohydrates  and  fats,  and  certain  inorganic 
salts.  Since  the  organic  constituents  named  all  furnish  energy 
when  they  are  oxidized,  the  idea  has  prevailed  that  the  proportions 
between  the  carbohydrates  and  fats  in  the  food  is  a  matter  of  little 
importance.  This  idea  is  correct.  The  eskimo  eats  little  carbo- 
hydrate and  much  fat,  while  people  in  the  temperate  regions  eat 
relatively  very  much  less  fat.  It  is  a  common  misconception,  how- 
ever, that  the  people  in  the  warmer  regions  of  the  world  do  not  eat 
liberally  of  fats.  They  consume  much  more  fats  than  do  the  peoples 
living  in  the  temperate  regions.  This  is  purely  a  matter  of  Con- 
venience and  came  about  through  the  relative  abundance  in  the 
tropics  of  oil-rich  fruits  and  nuts.  The  temperate  regions  produce 
the  cereals  and  other  crops  which  are  with  few  exceptions  rich  in 
carbohydrates  and  poor  in  fats.  Man  has  adapted  himself  to  the 
character  of  the  foods  which  he  has  found  available,  andthrough  long 
usage  certain  dietary  habits  have  become  fixed. 

There  has  been  much  importance  attached  to  the  protein 
content  of  the  diet,  and  justly  so.  I  shall  not  attempt  to  dis- 
cuss the  merits  of  the  high  or  low  protein  diet.  Practically  all 
students  of  nutrition  are  now  agreed  that  a  fairly  liberal  supply  of 
protein  in  the  diet  tends  to  promote  good  nutrition  better  than  an 
amount  which  closely  approximates  the  physiological  minimum. 
Furthermore,  this  aspect  of  nutrition  is  so  well  appreciated  that  it 
receives  the  attention  of  all  who  concern  themselves  with  the 
planning  of  rations. 

One  of  the  dietary  factors  which  should  be  given  attention  is 


Some  Essentials  to  a  Safe  Diet  97 

the  inorganic  or  mineral  content.  The  research  of  the  last  few  years 
has  brought  to  light  an  importance  of  this  part  of  the  food  which 
was  not  hitherto  suspected. 

Another  fact  of  the  greatest  importance  in  enabling  us  to  plan 
adequate  dietaries  is  the  knowledge  that  there  exists  two  substances 
the  natures  of  which  are  still  unknown  which  must  be  present  in  the 
diet  if  an  animal  is  to  grow  or  long  maintain  a  state  of  health.  The 
existence  of  one  of  these  has  been  appreciated  only  about  four  years 
and  the  other  but  two.  Although  we  do  not  know  much  about  the 
natures  of  either  of  these  substances  we  have  definite  and  fairly 
adequate  knowledge  regarding  where  they  can  be  found. 

One  of  those  substances  is  especially  abundant  in  milk  and  it  is 
fairly  abundant  in  the  leaves  of  plants,  but  almost  without  exception 
is  deficient  in  the  seeds  of  plants.  Butter  fat  is  one  of  the  best 
sources  of  it.  Egg  fats  are  also  an  excellent  source  of  it.  This 
substance  is  in  these  particular  kinds  of  fats  and  in  the  leaves  of 
plants,  but  not  in  the  seeds  in  adequate  amounts. 

The  second  unknown  is  everywhere  abundant  except  in  the 
following  list  of  foods :  polished  rice ;  fats  from  either  animal  or  vege- 
table sources;  sugars  and  starches.  None  of  these  contain  this 
second  food  element. 

Under  ordinary  conditions  when  we  take  a  diet  of  seeds,  or  seeds 
and  vegetables,  or  seeds  and  milk,  or  seeds  and  meat,  we  get  an 
abundance  of  the  second  substance,  but  we  are  in  more  or  less  serious 
danger  of  running  a  little  short  on  the  dietary  essential  which  is  not 
abundant  in  the  seeds  but  is  associated  with  the  leaves  and  is  present 
in  large  amount  in  milk. 

There  are  several  cases  in  the  literature  of  medicine  which 
indicate  that  serious  consequences  have  actually  arisen  in  Japan 
and  Denmark,  due  to  a  specific  shortage  of  that  particular  unknown 
thing  which  is  so  abundant  in  butter  fats  and  in  milk  and  in  egg  fat 
and  in  the  leaves  of  plants,  but  not  in  the  seeds.  Up  to  recent  times 
the  practice  in  Denmark  was  to  feed  children  on  milk  containing  a 
moderate  amount  of  fat,  but  since  the  introduction  of  the  milk 
separator,  which  is  very  efficient  in  taking  out  practically  all  the 
fat  of  milk,  a  physician  named  Bloch  at  Copenhagen  has  observed 
about  forty-five  cases  in  the  last  five  years  of  children  in  the  country 
who  were  fed  on  separator  milk  and  vegetable  food,  who  suffered 
from  eye  troubles.     The  eyes  become  swollen,  inflamed  and  in- 


98  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

fected,  and  blindness  results  unless  something  is  done  to  correct  the 
faulty  diet.  The  introduction  of  whole  milk  causes  an  immediate 
response  and  recovery,  providing  the  eyes  are  not  too  badly  injured. 

During  times  of  famine  among  the  vegetarian  people  of  Japan, 
hundreds  of  cases  have  been  recorded  of  this  pathological  condition 
of  the  eyes  in  young  children;  and  curiously  enough,  a  certain 
Japanese  physician  named  Mori  has  pointed  out  that  the  eye  trouble  1 
in  these  vegetarian  children  is  cured  by  giving  them  chicken  livers.  ' 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  other  livers  would  cure  them  just  as  well.  They 
could  be  cured  just  as  well  with  butter  fat  or  eggs. 

Another  type  of  malnutrition  due  to  a  lack  of  an  unappre- 
ciated, unidentified  dietary  factor  is  a  disease,  found  in  the  Orient, 
that  is  due  to  a  lack  of  the  second  unknown  to  which  I  have  referred. 
This  is  widely  distributed  in  many  kinds  of  food  but  is  nearly  absent 
from  pohshed  rice,  and  this  disease  which  is  called  beri-beri  occurs 
among  those  people  who  eat  pohshed  rice  as  the  principal  article  of 
diet.  The  principal  feature  of  this  deficiency  disease  is  general 
paralysis. 

One  of  the  most  important  things  to  realize  is  that  the  chemical  j 
analysis  of  foodstuffs,  no  matter  how  completed  or  by  whom  made,  J 
cannot  give  the  slightest  evidence  as  to  the  biological  values  of  the 
foods.  Such  knowledge  can  be  gained  only  by  properly  conducted 
feeding  tests.  I  have  during  the  last  five  years  perfected  a  sys- 
tematic procedure  which  involves  a  series  of  feeding  experiments, 
and  which  yields  results  which  constitute  a  biological  analysis  of 
food-stuffs.  Briefly  the  principle  is  as  follows:  a  single  natural  food: 
in  a  wholesome  condition  is  fed  as  the  sole  source  of  nutriment  and 
then  with  single  or  multiple  additions  of  isolated  food  factors.  This 
will  be  clear  from  a  simple  illustration.  If  we  represent  protein  byi 
P,  inorganic  salts  by  S,  the  unknown  dietary  substance  associatedj 
with  certain  fats  and  with  the  leaves  of  plants  by  A,  and  the  re- 
maining unidentified  dietary  factor  by  B,  the  dietary  properties  of 
a  foodstuff,  as  the  maize  kernel,  are  determined  by  feeding  maizei 
in  the  following  ways: 

1.  Maize  alone  8.  Maize  +  P  +  B 

2.  Maize  +  P  9.  Maize  +  S  +  A 

3.  Maize  +  S  10.  Maize  +  S  +  B 

4.  Maize  +  A  11.  Maize  +  A  +  B 

5.  Maize  +  B  12.  Maize  +  P  +  S  +  A 

6.  Maize  +  P  +  S  .  13.  Maize  +  P  +  S  +  B 

7.  Maize  +  P  +  A  14.  Maize  +  P  +  S-f-A-l-B 


I 


'Some  Essentials  to  a  Safe  Diet  99 

Only  rations  12  and  14  in  this  series  will  adequately  nourish 
an  animal  during  growth.  This  shows  that  there  are  three  ways  in 
which  the  maize  kernel  is  deficient,  viz.,  its  proteins  are  not  of  very 
satisfactory  character;  it  lacks  a  sufficient  amount  of  the  unknown 
factor  A  and  it  is  too  poor  in  certain  inorganic  salts  to  support 
physiological  well-being  in  a  growing  animal.  What  I  have  said 
about  the  maize  kernel  can  be  said  almost  without  qualification  for 
the  other  most  important  cereal  grains;  wheat  and  oats,  and  other 
common  seeds.  Since  the  dietary  properties  of  various  seeds  are 
about  alike  their  mixtures  are  but  little  better  than  the  single  seeds 
fed  as  the  sole  source  of  nutriment.  The  seeds  are  perfectly  good 
foodstuffs  so  far  as  they  go  but  we  should  recognize  their  deficiencies 
and  see  to  it  that  they  are  combined  with  such  other  foods  as  will 
make  good  their  shortcomings.  Chief  among  the  foods  which  cor- 
rect the  deficiencies  of  the  seeds  are  milk  and  the  leaves  of  plants, 
such  as  cabbage,  lettuce,  spinach,  cauliflower  and  such  other  leaves 
as  are  appetizing  as  greens.  The  tubers  such  as  the  potato  and 
sweet  potato  possess  a  certain  amount  of  corrective  character,  but 
are  distinctly  poorer  than  the  leaf  of  the  plant. 

Why  do  milk  and  leaf-vegetables  make  good  the  dietary  defi- 
ciencies of  the  seeds?  It  is  because  they  are  especially  rich  in  those 
mineral  elements,  such  as  calcium,  sodium  and  chlorine,  in  which 
the  seeds  are  deficient.  They  are  rich  in  the  unidentified  factor  A 
which  is  abundant  in  certain  fats  and  in  leaves  but  with  few  excep- 
tions, not  in  seeds  and  their  proteins  supplement  those  of  the  seeds 
so  as  to  enhance  their  value. 

Whereas  an  animal  can  live  but  a  short  time  when  fed  oats 
alone,  a  mixture  of  rolled  oats,  60  per  cent,  and  a  flour  made  from 
immature  alfalfa  leaves,  40  per  cent,  constitutes  a  fairly  satisfactory 
monotonous  diet  from  infancy  to  adult  life.  Normal  development 
cannot  be  secured  on  any  mixture  of  seeds  as  a  restricted  diet,  but 
combinations  of  leaf  with  seed  are  in  most  cases  fairly  satisfactory. 

There  are  at  the  present  time  thousands  of  people  of  the  working 
classes  in  the  south  who  are  suffering  from  a  disease  known  as  pella- 
gra. Dr.  Goldberger  of  the  Bureau  of  Pubhc  Health  in  Washington 
has  demonstrated  that  the  disease  is  the  result  of  a  faulty  diet. 

A  year  ago,  owing  to  the  high  cost  of  foodstuffs,  there  were 
several  people  especially  interested  in  home  economics  who  made  in- 
quiry into  the  question  as  to  what  was  the  least  expenditure  of 


iOO  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

money  on  which  a  self-respecting  human  being  might  expect  to  be 
well  nourished.  There  was  such  a  group  of  investigators  in  Chicago 
about  a  year  ago,  and  after  careful  inquiry  they  decided  that  in 
Chicago  about  forty  cents  a  day  was  the  lowest  expenditure  on 
which  an  adult  could  be  reasonably  well  nourished. 

While  that  investigation  was  going  on,  Mrs.  Dewey  made  an 
investigation  of  the  insane  hospitals  and  state  prisons  of  New  York, 
and  found  that  they  were  feeding  the  prisoners  and  insane  patients 
in  that  state  on  about  eleven  and  six-tenths  cents  a  day. 

Dr.  Goldberger  has  produced  experimental  pellagra  in  human 
beings  on  a  diet  supplying  an  abundance  of  energy  and  affording 
considerable  variety,  but  derived  too  largely  from  seeds.  The 
governor  of  one  of  the  southern  states  agreed  to  pardon  any  con- 
vict in  the  state  penitentiary  who  would  volunteer  to  eat  such  a  diet 
as  Dr.  Goldberger  might  prescribe  until  he  chose  to  discontinue 
the  experiment.      There  were  eleven  of  them  who  took  the  chance. 

He  kept  these  men  in  the  country  on  a  sunny  slope  under  ideal 
hygienic  conditions.  They  were  given  dishes  prepared  from  the 
following  list  of  foodstuffs:  bolted  wheat  flour,  corn  meal,  oatmeal, 
corn  starch,  sugar,  syrup,  bacon  fat,  cabbage,  collards,  turnip  greens 
and  sweet  potatoes. 

After  five  and  a  half  months  five  of  the  eleven  men  in  this 
experimental  group  showed  distinct  signs  of  pellagra.  In  some  of 
the  insane  hospitals  and  orphanages  of  the  south  where  formerly 
there  was  a  high  incidence  of  pellagra,  Dr.  Goldberger  found  the 
disease  to  disappear  when  an  adequate  diet  was  supplied.  I  ven- 
ture to  say  that  the  trouble  with  the  diets  of  the  people  in  these 
regions  is  the  very  high  percentage  derived  from  the  seeds  of  plants 
or  products  made  by  milling  or  polishing  the  seeds.  There  is  an 
element  of  danger  in  restricting  the  diet  of  either  man  or  animal  too 
largely  to  products  of  this  class. 

Dr.  Goldberger  has  pointed  out  that  the  diet  of  many  of  the 
poor  people  of  the  south  consists  in  winter  of  corn  bread,  salt  pork 
and  molasses.  This  they  eat  with  little  variety  in  the  way  of  other 
additions,  and  by  the  end  of  winter  come  down  with  the  disease. 
From  what  I  have  said  of  the  nature  of  the  dietary  deficiencies  of 
the  seeds  the  nature  of  the  deficiencies  of  the  pellagra-producing 
diets  is  fairly  clear.  The  fault  does  not  lie  in  any  one  dietary 
deficiency  but  in  poor  quality  with  respect  to  several  factors. 


Some  Essentials  to  a  Safe  Diet  101 

The  greatest  nutritional  problems  before  us  now  are  two  in 
number.  First  we  must  find  a  way  to  provide  the  leafy  vegetables 
at  moderate  prices  to  the  people  of  our  cities.  These  foods  should 
be  the  least  expensive  of  all.  They  are  great  producers  and  are 
easily  handled,  but  because  of  their  tendency  to  spoilage  the  present 
system  of  marketing  renders  them  a  hazardous  class  of  foods  for  the 
retail  dealer  to  handle  and  the  prices  are  accordingly  exhorbitant. 
One  of  the  greatest  boons  which  could  possibly  come  to  the  poor 
people  throughout  the  world  would  be  the  discovery  of  a  plant 
which  is  a  good  agricultural  crop,  whose  leaves  are  not  fleshy,  but 
of  a  character  which  permits  their  being  promptly  dried  in  the  sun 
as  are  our  hay  crops,  and  the  immature  leaves  of  which  could  be 
converted  into  a  flour  with  good  keeping  qualities.  Such  a  leaf 
must  be  free  from  tannins  and  other  bitter  principles  and  so  nearly 
tasteless  that  it  could  be  incorporated  with  wheat  flour  to  the  extent 
of  20-25  per  cent  without  destroying  the  pleasant  flavor  of  the 
wheat  loaf.  Such  a  bread  would  have  dietary  properties  vastly 
superior  to  any  variety  of  dishes  derived  from  wheat,  com,  oats 
and  rice  when  prepared  without  the  use  of  milk  and  taken  without 
sufficient  vegetables  to  correct  their  deficiencies. 

If  such  a  plant  can  be  found  and  the  public  educated  to  the 
regular  use  of  such  a  mixed  flour  the  health  of  all  peoples  who  live 
on  a  restricted  diet  would  be  greatly  improved.  Since  high  ideals, 
ambition  and  agressiveness  are  promoted  by  physiological  well 
being,  the  gain  to  society  would  be  very  great  indeed.  I  have  the 
hearty  cooperation  of  Mr.  Fairchild  of  the  Bureau  of  Plant  Industry 
in  securing  plants  which  may  meet  these  requirements. 

The  second  fundamentally  important  dietary  problem  with 
which  we  have  to  deal  is  the  preservation  of  the  dairy  industry. 
The  prices  of  feeding  stuffs  have  gone  up  100  to  200  per  cent  while 
the  price  of  milk  has  advanced  only  about  20  per  cent.  Such  a  con- 
dition makes  milk  production  unprofitable  and  will  lead,  if  not  rem- 
edied, to  an  abandonment  of  the  dairy  industry.  Such  an  event 
would  be  a  misfortune  of  the  gravest  consequences  to  the  public 
health.  We  have  long  been  accustomed  to  the  use  of  milk  in  lib- 
eral amounti  in  cookery,  and  of  cream,  butter  and  cheese.  It  is 
not  generally  appreciated  that  these  articles  have  a  dietary  value 
far  greater  than  can  be  expressed  by  their  protein  and  energy 
content.     They  act  as  correctives  for  the  deficiencies  of  the  cereal 


i02  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

grains  and  without  them  the  nutrition  of  our  people  will  suffer 
serious  impairment. 

The  nation-wide  cry  against  further  advance  on  the  cost  of 
milk  is  unjust  and  dangerous.  The  cost  of  milk  must  go  up  and 
up  so  far  as  is  necessary  to  insure  that  the  dairy  industry  shall  re- 
main a  paying  one. 

The  only  alternative  in  dietary  practice  which  can  maintain  the 
health  and  efficiency  of  our  population  is  the  adoption  of  a  new  type 
of  diet  derived  in  suitable  amount  from  leaf  flour.  This,  however, 
involves  still  unsolved  problems  and  cannot  at  once  be  put  into 
effect.  The  only  product  which  can  in  some  measure  meet  the 
requirements  is  the  flour  prepared  from  the  alfalfa  leaf.  It  is  not 
entirely  satisfactory  as  a  human  food  but  baking  tests  made  in  the 
departments  of  Home  Economics  at  several  universities  have  shown 
that  10-12  per  cent  of  alfalfa  leaf  flour  can  be  used  with  wheat  flour 
without  affecting  perceptably  the  physical  properties  of  the  wheat 
loaf.  Bread  prepared  from  mixed  flour  of  this  character  is  slightly 
green  but  does  not  differ  greatly  from  whole  wheat  bread  in  taste. 
More  than  12-14  per  cent  of  the  leaf  produces  a  slightly  stringent 
taste  which  renders  the  product  less  acceptable  to  the  human  palate. 
A  better  leaf  flour  should  be  found  for  this  purpose  and  I  believe 
this  will  be  accomplished  before  long.  Such  a  leaf  would  not,  how- 
ever, do  away  with  the  need  of  milk  and  its  products.  The  appe- 
tizing nature  of  these  and  their  capacity  in  cuhnary  practices  of  ^ 
conferring  palatabiHty  upon  other  foods  make  them  foods  for  which 
there  can  be  found  no  substitutes. 

The  mixed  seed  and  leaf  flour  which  I  have  described  will  serve 
only  as  a  cheap  and  safe  food  for  those  whose  earnings  do  not  per- 
mit the  use  of  foods  other  than  the  cheapest,  viz.,  the  seed  products, 
molasses,  etc.  For  these  meats  do  not  form  efficient  dietary  supple- 
ments and  their  purchase  is  not  logical.  We  could  entirely  dispense 
with  meats  without  sufl"ering  any  ill  effects  whatever,  but  if  we  per- 
mit the  use  of  milk,  even  in  the  diet  of  adults,  to  fall  much  below 
the  present  consumption,  its  effects  will  soon  become  apparent  in 
our  national  efficiency. 


Dietary  Habits  and  their  Improvement  103 

DIETARY   HABITS   AND   THEIR   IMPROVEMENT 

SOME  RESULTS  OF  THE  WORK  OF  PHIPPS  INSTITUTE 

By  H.  R.  M.  Landis,  M.D., 
Director  of  Clinical  and  Sociological  Departments,  Phipps  Institute. 

Anybody  who  has  worked  among  the  laboring  classes  and  has 
any  knowledge  of  the  small  wage-earner,  realizes  very  quickly  that 
there  is  no  other  class  of  people  who  are  so  shockingly  extravagant 
and  so  ignorant  in  the  making  of  their  purchases,  not  only  as  to 
food  but  in  other  directions,  and  this  holds  true  and  did  hold  true 
long  before  food  shortage  became  sach  a  vital  question;  it  has  always 
been  a  vital  question  with  them. 

In  one  study  that  we  made  at  Phipps  Institute,  some  years 
ago,  on  the  relationship  that  might  possibly  exist  between  tuber- 
culosis and  the  garment-making  trade,  we  found  that  in  those  indi- 
viduals who  were  getting  insufficient  food  or  who  were  taking  their 
food  at  irregular  intervals  the  incidence  of  tuberculosis  was  higher 
than  among  those  adequately  fed.  Among  the  men  there  was  a 
very  considerable  proportion  of  those  with  a  food  deficiency  who 
developed  not  only  tuberculosis  but  other  ailments;  among  the 
women,  the  proportion  was  almost  three  times  as  great  as  with 
those  who  were  getting  an  adequate  diet.^  I  have  no  hesitation  in 
saying  that  malnutrition  is  probably  one  of  the  most  potent  causes 
of  tuberculosis  that  we  have  among  the  working  class.  It  leads 
to  a  lowered  resistance  and  is  to  be  ascribed  in  some  instances  to 
poverty,  but  quite  as  often  it  is  due  to  ignorance  on  their  part  as  to 
the  food  they  should  get. 

Another  study  we  made,  of  an  intensive  nature,  was  that  of 
studying  very  completely,  twelve  families,  these  twelve  families 
being  represented  by  three  Italian  families,  three  Russian  Jewish 
famihes,  three  negro  famihes  and  three  Polish  families.  This  study 
was  conducted  for  a  period  of  two  weeks,  and  in  each  of  the  families 
a  very  accurate  estimation  was  made.  A  nurse  went  to  each  one 
of  the  homes  and  weighed  all  the  food  they  had  on  hand  when  the 
study  started,  weighed  all  the  food  purchased  each  day  and  what 


*  Eighth  Report,  Phipps  Institute,  1915. 


I 


104  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

was  left  at  the  end  of  the  study  was  subtracted  from  the  total.  The 
amount  used  was  then  reduced  to  calories. 

This  study  brought  out  some  very  interesting  facts  as  to  racial 
characteristics,  not  only  as  to  the  tj^pe  of  food  but  more  particu- 
larly as  to  racial  economy  in  food  purchases. 

The  Italians  made  by  far  the  best  showing.  Reducing  each 
one  of  these  families  to  men  per  day,  we  found  that  the  Italian 
families  were  feeding  themselves  at  the  rate  of  nineteen  cents  per 
man  per  day.  The  negroes  came  next  with  twenty-two  cents;  the 
Russian  Jews,  twenty-four  cents,  and  the  Poles  jumped  up  to  thirty- 
four  cents,  and  in  one  Polish  family  they  were  spending  forty-two 
cents  per  man  per  day.^ 

As  to  the  composition  of  the  food,  the  Italians  were  getting 
almost  75  per  cent  of  carbohydrates  and  were  getting  less  than  one- 
half  of  the  amount  of  protein  that  is  ordinarily  believed  to  be  neces- 
sary. In  talking  with  Dr.  A.  E.  Taylor  about  this,  he  offered  the 
explanation  that  the  Latin  races,  as  a  whole,  are  the  only  ones  who 
have  adequately  solved  the  problem  of  preparing  carbohydrate 
foods  and  have  been  able  to  cook  them  in  a  palatable  form  so  that 
they  are  readily  eaten  and  can  be  subsisted  on  without  any  great 
detriment. 

The  negro,  for  some  reason,  as  I  found  not  only  in  our  own  ex- 
periment but  in  other  investigations,  runs  to  a  very  high  fat  content 
in  his  diet.  He  not  only  eats  large  quantities  of  fat,  but  the  other 
articles  of  his  diet  are  commonly  cooked  in  fat.  The  Russian  Jews 
subsisted  on  a  diet  which  was  more  nearly  balanced  than  that  of 
vany  of  the  others.  The  Polish  families  were  getting  a  diet  that  was 
pretty  fairly  balanced,  but  in  going  over  it  and  analyzing  the  diets 
per  family,  it  was  found  that  they  were  buying  a  large  amount  of 
food  stuff  in  which  there  was  no  essential  food  value  at  all.  In  other 
words,  they  were  extremely  lavish  in  their  expenditures  and  did  not 
begin  to  get  out  of  their  purchases  what  they  should  in  the  wuy  of 
absolute  food  value. 

The  result  of  this  study  was  that  it  seemed  apparent  to  us  that 
the  dispensary  patient  seems  to  be  getting  about  four-fifths  of  the 
amount  of  food  that  he  should.  In  other  words  there  is  just  that 
subnormal  amount  all  the  time  that  is  probably  lowering  his  resist- 

*  The  figures  quoted  are  those  of  two  and  a  half  years  ago. 


Dietary  Habits  and  their  Improvement  105 

ance  and  if  there  is  any  additional  strain  put  upon  him  he  readily 
falls  the  victim  of  some  disease.^ 

The  influence  of  good  food  has  nowhere  been  better  demon- 
strated than  in  our  open-air  schools.  In  the  beginning  children 
referred  to  the  open-air  schools  were  designated  as  tuberculous  or 
pretuberculous.  More  often,  ^however,  they  are  delicate,  under- 
nourished children,  who  are  without  any  apparent  organic  disease 
that  you  can  put  your  hands  on,  the  chief  difficulty  seeming  to  be 
that  of  malnutrition.  When  they  are  placed  in  an  open-air  school 
and  supplied  at  the  same  time  with  at  least  one  mixed  meal,  these 
children  make  the  most  amazing  gains  in  weight. 

A  study  somewhat  similar  to  that  made  by  us  was  conducted 
by  Miss  Lucy  Gillette  for  the  New  York  Association  for  Improving 
Conditions  among  the  Poor.  An  intensive  study  was  made  of 
children.  She  found  that  there  were  certain  variations  as  to 
the  food  requirements  for  different  types  of  individuals.  She  points 
out  very  clearly  that  the  delicate  child,  one  that  is  emaciated  and 
under-nourished,  is  one  that  inevitably  needs  a  vastly  larger  food 
supply  than  the  child  under  ordinary  conditions. 

1  was  much  interested  only  a  short  time  ago,  as  pointing  to  the 
ignorance  of  food  values  which  I  think  obtains  among  the  masses 
pretty  generally,  in  a  statement  made  by  the  Chief  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  Food  Hygiene  of  the  Argentine  Republic,  to  the  effect 
that,  among  the  laborers  in  Argentina,  as  a  whole,  a  most  inadequate 
knowledge  of  and  the  most  thriftless  habits  in  regard  to  food 
prevailed.  In  his  opinion  there  was  most  urgent  need  for 
legislation  which  would  see  to  it  that  these  people  got  a  better 
balanced  diet.  Legislation,  I  believe,  would  not  have  the  slightest 
influence.  I  think  the  problem  is  one  entirely  of  education.  This 
brings  up  the  question  of  how  to  teach  people  the  kind  of  and  the 
amount  of  food  that  they  should  get  each  day.  Personally,  my 
experience  has  been  that  irrespective  of  the  race,  there  is  a  tendency 
to  take  a  diet  that  is  more  or  less  similar.  One  race  may  eat  a  little 
more  fat  and  another  go  a  little  further  in  carbohydrates,  but  there 
is  this  tendency  to  use  a  mixed  diet,  and  where  they  have  their 
independen4;  choice,  they  keep  away  from  any  set  food  formula. 

But  the  essential  thing  is  to  teach  people  the  quantity  and 
quality  of  food  desirable  and  in  addition  the  relative  values  of 

2  Craig  and  Landis;  Transactions  Association  American  Physicians,  1916. 


106  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

different  foods.  Our  experience  at  the  Phipps  Institute  has  been 
that  housewives  vary  tremendously  in  their  purchasing  abilities; 
one  woman,  for  instance,  for  every  ten  cents,  would  get  food  equiva- 
lent to  fifteen  hundred  calories,  another  would  get  only  nine  hundred. 
In  other  words,  there  was  a  difference  of  almost  40  per  cent  between 
the  purchasing  power  of  two  women. 

In  some  of  the  work  that  we  have  done  in  connection  with 
tuberculosis  classes,  we  watched  more  or  less  closely  the  amount  of 
food  the  patients  were  getting.  It  was  necessary,  in  almost  every 
instance,  to  show  them  the  kinds  and  amounts  of  food  needed.  If 
there  were  available  four  or  five  dollars  a  week  for  food  in  a  family 
of  five — I  am  quoting  figures  for  six  years  ago — it  became  necessary 
in  nearly  every  instance  to  show  them  exactly  how  they  should  spend 
those  four  or  five  dollars  to  get  the  food  that  would  give  them  the 
best  returns. 

The  only  way  we  have  of  controlling  the  amount  of  food  we 
are  giving  to  an  individual  and  determining  whether  that  individual 
is  on  a  subnormal  diet  or  not,  is  by  the  caloric  method.  I  want  it 
understood,  of  course,  that  the  calory  does  not  mean  everything. 
We  have  to  take  into  consideration  the  preparation  of  the  food  and 
very  often,  the  service  of  the  food  and,  in  addition,  to  keep  in  mind, 
the  use  of  those  foodstuffs  which  furnish  the  so-called  vitamines. 
But  the  caloric  method  is  necessary  as  a  means  of  determining 
whether  the  individual  is  on  a  subnormal  diet,  or  whether,  perhaps, 
he  is  being  overfed,  as  many  are.  In  one  school  which  was  investi- 
gated, it  was  found  that  the  boys  were  each  receiving  about  5,500  cal- 
ories daily  and  in  addition  were  getting  about  500  more  outside  in  the 
form  of  candy.     In  other  words,  they  were  tremendously  overfed. 

The  difficulty  with  the  caloric  method  has  been  that  lay 
people  as  a  whole  have  very  little  conception  of  what  is  meant  by  a 
calory;  and  it  is  undoubtedly  true  that  many  physicians  have  a  very 
hazy  idea  of  what  is  meant  if  you  say  that  an  individual  should 
have  2,200  or  3,000  calories  a  day.  The  great  trouble  with  the 
caloric  method  has  been  the  difficulty  of  translating  the  values  in 
intelligible  form  to  the  individual  who  knows  nothing  about  them. 
One  of  the  difficulties  has  been  that  it  is  a  tremendous  tax  on  the 
memory  to  recall  that  so  many  grams  of  a  certain  amount  of  food 
equal  135  calories,  and  so  many  grams  of  another  kind  of  food 
equal  40  calories. 


Dietary  Habits  and  their  Improvement  107 

What  I  believe  to  have  been  a  market  advance  in  the  intro- 
duction of  the  caloric  method  was  a  suggestion  first  made  by  Dr. 
Irving  Fisher,  by  which  you  use  a  common  unit  of  100.  The  next 
advance  in  this  line  was  made  by  Dr.  William  Emerson,  of  Boston, 
who  translated  these  100  calories  into  perfectly  familiar  terms  so 
that  even  the  most  ignorant  housewife  could  understand.  He  has 
reduced  them,  for  instance,  to  teaspoonfuls,  cupfuls  and  so  on — a  tea- 
spoonful  of  a  given  amount  of  food  equals  a  hundred  calories,  so  in 
that  way  the  values  could  be  very  easily  followed.  He  has  had  an 
exhibit  prepared  on  these  lines  which  he  has  used  with  extraordi- 
narily good  effect  in  the  teaching  of  dietetics  to  delicate  children. 
In  this  way  he  has  been  able  to  teach  children,  of  even  seven  or 
eight  years  of  age,  how  many  calories  they  have  taken  a  day  and 
how  many  more  they  need  to  make  up  their  quota.  It  is  not  so 
difficult  to  teach  even  the  individual  with  a  very  slight  amount  of 
education  what  you  mean  when  you  say  that  he  must  have  2,200 
or  2,400  calories  of  food  per  day  when  this  is  translated  into 
familiar  measurements.  I  have  had  one  of  these  food  exhibits 
made  because  it  visualizes  these  values  and  enables  one  to  learn 
more  in  a  few  minutes  than  any  arnount  of  talking  would  do  con- 
cerning caloric  feeding. 

For  instance,  it  does  not  take  very  long  to  remember  that 
approximately  a  quart  of  bouillon  made  of  the  very  best  meat  you 
can  get  is  100  calories,  and  you  can  contrast  that  with  two  table- 
spoonfuls  of  lima  beans,  which  have  a  food  value  of  100  calories. 
The  banana,  equaling  100  calories,  is  one  of  the  easiest  articles  of 
diet  to  get,  is  always  on  the  market,  and  has  recently  been  shown  to 
be  practically  the  equivalent  of  the  potato.  It  can  be  eaten  as 
almost  the  sole  and  only  diet.  The  chief  difficulty  with  the  banana 
is  that  so  often  it  is  sold  green,  or  partially  so.  One  roll  equals  100 
calories;  one  pat  of  butter  equals  100  calories;  four  of  the  ordinary 
Uneeda  biscuits  equal  100  calories;  the  lean  portion  of  one  lamb 
chop  equals  100  calories;  twelve  double  peanuts  equal  100  calories; 
a  piece  of  fish  about  the  size  of  the  palm  of  the  hand  equals  100 
calories;  a  teaspoonful  of  peanut  butter  equals  100  calories;  and 
so  you  can  go  through  the  whole  list,  reducing  the  commoner  food- 
stuffs to  a  basis  that  anybody  can  understand.  Extreme  accuracy 
is  not  claimed  for  this  plan  but  it  does  serve  to  give  a  fairly  clear 
idea  of  what  the  individual  should  receive. 


108  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

I  used  this  method  a  part  of  last  year  with  medical  students 
and  their  own  testimony  was  that  they  were  able  to  get  a  clearer 
idea  in  fifteen  minutes  as  to  what  was  meant  by  caloric  feeding  by 
being  able  to  visualize  the  articles,  than  they  were  by  reading  pages 
and  pages  of  tabulations  showing  that  so  many  grams  of  one  thing 
equaled  so  many  calories,  and  so  many  grams  of  somethingelse  equaled 
so  many  more  calories.  I  intend  to  use  the  method  this  winter  with 
dispensary  patients  to  find  out,  in  the  first  place,  approximately 
how  much  food  they  are  getting.  It  has  been  our  experience  that 
many  of  the  patients  who  come  to  Phipps  Institute  are  getting  food 
which  amounts  to  but  1,200,  1,500  or  1,800  calories  when  their 
disease  demands  that  they  should  be  getting  about  twice  that 
amount;  and  quite  as  often  as  not  you  will  find  that  their  deficient 
dietary  is  not  a  result  of  the  fact  that  they  have  not  money  enough 
to  get  the  food,  but  because  they  are  not  purchasing  the  right  kinds 
of  food. 

Whether  a  better  method  than  this  one  can  be  devised  for  the 
teaching  of  dietetics  among  people  who  have  no  knowledge  what- 
ever of  food  values,  I  do  not  know.  I  do  know  this,  that  prior  to 
my  seeing  this  exhibit,  I  had  a  very  poor  idea  as  to  what  my  daily 
food  consumption  was.  I  had  not  the  slightest  idea  whether  I  was 
getting  1,500  or  3,000  calories,  but  with  this  method  I  can  compute 
it  with  a  fair  degree  of  accuracy. 


A   GUIDE   TO   THE   NATION'S   DIETARY   NEEDS 

By  Helen  W.  Atwater, 

Specialist  in  House  Economics,  States  Relations  Service,  United  States 
Department  of  Agriculture. 

There  are  many  popular  theories  current  regarding  the  food 
habits  and  customs  of  different  nations  and  regions  and  even  more 
theories  as  to  how  those  habits  and  customs  might  be  changed  to  the 
benefit  of  mankind,  but  to  a  large  extent  these  are  based  on  inade- 
quate observation,  often  merely  on  personal  impressions,  or  even  on 
the  somewhat  prejudiced  opinions  of  the  food  faddist  or  the  com- 
mercial exploiter.  Evidently  if  we  are  to  say  with  anji,hing  like 
accuracy  how  the  nation  can  best  be  fed,  we  must  have  more  definite 


The  Nation's  Dietary  Needs  109 

information  as  to  what  it  needs  and  what  it  habitually  uses.  We 
are  far  from  knowing  as  much  as  we  should  on  either  of  these  points, 
but  the  work  of  physiologists,  chemists  and  statisticians  taken  to- 
gether has  done  much  toward  starting  us  toward  a  real  understanding 
of  dietary  needs. 

During  the  last  fifty  years,  our  knowledge  of  human  nutrition 
has  developed  into  a  well-ordered  science,  and  as  the  combined  result 
of  clinical  study,  laboratory  investigation  and  accurate  observation 
of  the  diets  normally  chosen  by  persons  living  under  different  con- 
ditions, students  of  nutrition  are  now  fairly  well  agreed  as  to  the 
general  food  requirements  of  normal  men,  women  and  children. 
Our  knowledge  is  rapidly  increasing  regarding  the  part  played  in  the 
body  by  the  different  mineral  matters,  different  types  of  protein, 
and  the  little  known  but  apparently  important  growth-deter- 
mining and  body-regulating  substances  and  as  a  consequence  our 
ideas  as  to  the  special  values  of  different  kinds  of  food  are  slowly 
changing. 

But  while  doctors  still  disagree  as  to  the  exact  number  of  grams 
of  protein  a  man  should  consume  a  day  to  build  and  repair  his  body 
tissues  or  exactly  how  we  should  reckon  the  calories  of  energy  needed 
by  the  various  members  of  a  family,  the  great  majority  are  now  will- 
ing to  adopt  as  a  working  hypothesis  a  daily  requirement  of  from 
ninety  to  one  hundred  grams  of  protein  for  a  one  hundred  and  fifty- 
pound  man  at  full  vigor,  with  3,000  calories  of  energy  if  he  does  a 
moderate  amount  of  muscular  work.  Certain  factors  are  also 
generally  accepted  by  means  of  which  this  standard  can  be  changed 
to  express  the  requirements  of  persons  of  different  age,  sex  and  mus- 
cular activities.  The  energy  requirements  of  a  man  at  severe 
muscular  work,  for  example,  are  reckoned  as  two-tenths  greater 
than  that  of  one  at  moderate  muscular  work,  and  that  of  a  woman 
as  eight-tenths  of  that  of  a  man  of  corresponding  muscular  activity. 
In  the  light  of  our  present  limited  knowledge  of  the  r61es  played  by 
different  food  constituents,  it  is  generally  considered  safest  to  obtain 
the  required  protein  and  energy  from  a  mixed  diet  in  which  the 
protein  foods  {i.e.  meats,  fish,  dairy  products,  eggs,  dried  legumes, 
etc.),  cereals,  fruits  and  vegetables  all  appear  with  enough  fats  and 
sugars  to  render  the  diet  palatable. 

Exactly  how  much  of  each  type  of  food  should  be  included  daily 
or  even  weekly,  few  would  care  to  say.     In  practical  menu  making, 


110  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

this  is  usually  decided  by  the  amount  of  money  one  has  to  spend  on 
food;  but  the  food  groups  should  all  appear  reasonably  of  ten,  and  milk 
should  always  be  provided  for  the  use  of  children.  Such  a  diet  seems 
to  correspond  with  the  food  habits  most  common  in  this  country. 
Among  the  very  poor,  especially  in  large  cities  and  in  seasons  of 
high  prices,  the  total  amount  of  food  used  is  probably  dangerously 
inadequate;  and  among  special  groups  of  our  population,  for  in- 
stance in  certain  mountain  regions  of  the  southeastern  states,  there 
is  evidence  that  the  variety  of  food  materials  used  is  too  restricted 
for  safety;  but  taking  the  country  over,  we  probably  err  on  the  side 
of  abundance  rather  than  scarcity.  At  any  rate  this  is  the  condition 
shown  by  accurate  studies  of  family  dietaries  that  have  hitherto 
been  made  in  different  sections  of  the  country. 

If  we  accept  the  standard  quoted  as  a  safe  measure  of  food 
requirements,  it  should  be  a  simple  matter  to  calculate  the  food  re- 
quirements of  the  nation.  The  census  reports  give  the  number  of 
men,  women  and  children  of  different  ages  and  a  fairly  good  indi- 
cation of  their  occupations  and  probable  muscular  activity.  Apply- 
ing the  factors  previously  referred  to  with  these  figures  we  could 
work  out  the  total  annual  protein  and  energy  requirements  of  the 
nation  and  the  average  requirements  per  capita  per  day.  Going  a 
step  further,  it  would  seem  an  equally  simple  matter  to  compare  this 
theoretical  national  requirement  with  the  total  food  consumed,  and 
to  tell  at  once  how  we  could  safely  change  our  food  consumption  in 
a  time  of  food  shortage  or  national  emergency.  This  is  exactly 
what  was  attempted  in  Germany  by  the  so-called  Eltzbacher  Com- 
mission and  in  England  both  by  Thompson  and  by  the  Committee 
of  the  Royal  Society  in  their  reports  on  the  Food  Supply  of  the 
United  Kingdom.  It  may  be  interesting  to  note  in  passing  that 
both  British  reports  used  the  American  dietary  factors  and  tables 
of  composition  of  food  materials  originally  worked  out  by  Atwater 
and  his  associates  and  slightly  revised  by  his  successor,  Langworthy, 
in  the  United  States  Department  of  Agriculture  publications — a 
pleasant  instance  of  the  help  American  science  has  given  to  our 
allies. 

Unfortunately,  such  calculations  are  open  to  two  objections, 
which  the  practical  experience  of  the  foreign  food  control  authorities 
has  found  to  be  well-founded.  First,  there  are  no  figures  from  which 
the  total  food  consumption  can  be  calculated  with  any  certainty  of 


The  Nation's  Dietary  TnTeeds  ill 

correctness;  and  second,  assuming  the  totals  to  be  correct,  they 
give  no  adequate  idea  of  regional,  racial  or  occupational  variations 
in  food  habits. 

In  the  foreign  reports,  the  food  consumption  figures  were  ob- 
tained from  agricultural  and  trade  records  of  production,  export 
and  import,  and  if  it  were  desirable,  the  same  thing  could  be  done  in 
this  country,  in  fact  has  often  been  done  for  such  staples  as  wheat, 
beef,  pork,  etc.  Unfortunately,  when  we  try  to  do  this  for  all  the 
materials  used  for  human  foods,  we  find  our  records  incomplete  and 
conflicting.  Nobody  knows,  for  example,  how  much  of  the  total 
corn  crop  is  used  for  cattle  feeding,  how  much  in  industry,  and  how 
much  for  human  food.  The  census  may  show  how  many  farmers 
keep  hens,  but  would  anyone  care  to  estimate  how  many  eggs  are 
used  in  the  average  farm  home  or  how  many  chickens  end  their 
careers  on  the  farm  table?  Even  supposing  that  we  could  estimate 
the  total  amount  of  vegetables  and  fruits  raised  in  this  country, 
could  anyone  say  how  much  was  wasted  or  spoiled  before  it  reached 
the  table?  Even  such  an  important  and  well-organized  business 
as  the  dairy  industry  can  give  us  no  definite  information  as  to  the 
milk  consumption  of  the  United  States.  The  census  enumerators 
may  take  careful  note  of  every  cow  in  the  country,  but  the  most 
experienced  dairyman  can  do  no  more  than  guess  how  much  milk 
is  used  on  the  farms  where  it  is  produced,  and  not  even  he  can  say 
how  much  is  fed  to  the  stock,  how  much  goes  into  butter  for  home 
use,  and  how  much-  is  consumed  as  such  by  the  family.  The  most 
reliable  estimate  gives  seven-tenths  of  a  pint  per  day  as  the  probable 
per  capita  consumption  of  milk,  exclusive  of  butter  and  cheese,  but 
this  is  admittedly  based  on  nothing  better  than  intelligent  guess- 
work. 

So  far  it  has  not  seemed  worth  while  to  estimate  the  total  food 
consumption  of  the  United  States  by  such  a  method.  For  the 
present,  at  least,  the  plan  is  to  try  another  method,  namely,  that  of 
the  food  survey  authorized  by  a  recent  act  of  Congress  and  begun 
by  the  Department  of  Agriculture  on  August  31.  As  the  newspapers 
have  said,  on  that  'date  investigators  enumerated  all  the  stocks  of 
food  materials  then  existing  in  wholesale  warehouses  and  storage 
plants,  in  the  stores  of  commission  and  retail  merchants  and  small 
producers,  and  in  the  hands  of  hotels  and  restaurants,  etc.  In 
addition  to  this  survey  of  commercial  stocks,  3,500  typical  families 


112  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

selected  from  all  over  the  country  were  visited  and  record  made  of 
all  the  food  materials  found  in  their  pantries,  storerooms  and  bins. 
From  these  an  estimate  is  to  be  made  of  the  total  household  stocks 
of  the  country — an  unsatisfactory  method,  but  the  best  compromise 
which  could  be  found  between  leaving  them  out  entirely  and  at- 
tempting to  get  figures  from  all  of  the  20,000,000  families  in  the 
country.  The  material  represented  by  household  stocks  makes 
such  a  small  proportion  of  the  total  material  recorded,  that  any 
error  that  may  creep  in  here  is  not  serious.  The  results  of  this 
first  survey  of  August  31  cannot  fail  to  give  valuable  information 
as  to  what  food  materials  the  country  possessed  and  where  they 
were  located;  but  those  responsible  for  it  consider  it  chiefly  useful 
as  testing  out  the  machinery  for  the  second  survey  which  is  planned 
to  be  made  in  November  or  December  by  improved  methods. 
From  the  results  of  the  two  together  they  are  confident  that  the 
annual  food  supply  of  the  nation  can  be  calculated  more  accurately 
than  by  the  method  used  abroad. 

If  the  food  survey  stopped  there,  we  should  still  be  faced  by  a 
lack  of  knowledge  regarding  variations  in  food  customs.  This  is  of 
great  importance  because  men  are  more  conservative  in  their  food 
habits  than  in  almost  any  other,  and  they  will  not  submit  to  sudden 
changes  except  under  the  pressure  of  stern  necessity.  Everybody 
knows  the  stories  of  famines  in  Asia  where  rice-eating  peoples  have 
died  rather  than  eat  the  unfamiliar  wheat  and  barley  which  the 
government  imported  for  them.  The  so-called  food  riots  in  some  of 
our  own  cities  last  winter  took  place  not  because  there  was  a  general 
food  shortage,  but  where  certain  staples  (potatoes,  onions,  and 
chicken-fat  in  many  cases)  to  which  the  people  were  accustomed  had 
suddenly  gone  up  in  price.  It  is  a  first  principle  of  enforced  ra- 
tioning that  food  prejudices  are  to  be  considered  as  far  as  possible. 
When  a  rich,  food-producing  nation  is  being  asked  voluntarily  to 
share  its  abundance  with  distant  allies,  it  is  even  more  necessary  for 
the  leaders  to  know  to  what  food  it  has  been  accustomed,  and  to 
consider  these  customs  in  suggesting  changes.  In  a  country  which 
has  a  great  variety  of  climate,  agriculture,  industry  and  racial  stocks, 
there  is  an  equal  variety  of  dietary  habits,  and  some  way  must  be 
found  of  learning  where  and  what  they  are. 

The  unprecedented  value  of  the  food  survey  as  a  guide  to  the 
nation's  dietary  needs  lies  in  the  fact  that  in  addition  to  measuring 


The  Nation's  Dietary  Needs  113 

the  nation's  stock  of  food,  it  has  planned  to  provide  reliable  informa- 
tion as  to  what  people  actually  eat  in  different  parts  of  the  country 
and  in  families  of  different  circumstances. 

This  is  to  be  accomplished  in  two  ways.  The  first  is  called  a 
food  consumption  survey,  and  the  preliminary  survey  was  made  with 
the  cooperation  of  the  3,500  housekeepers  visited  for  the  household 
stock  records.  Each  was  asked  to  keep  a  daily  record  of  the  food 
used  by  her  family  for  seven  days.  Blanks  were  provided  on  which 
all  the  common  food  materials  were  listed  in  a  way  which  she  could 
understand,  and  she  was  simply  asked  to  put  down  the  amount  of 
each  in  the  space  provided.  If  purchased,  the  cost  was  also  re- 
corded; if  home  produced,  this  fact  was  noted  and  current  retail 
prices  were  supplied  by  the  investigator  who  distributed  and  col- 
lected the  blanks.  Entries  were  also  made  of  the  age,  sex  and  oc- 
cupation of  the  members  of  the  household,  their  guests  and  the 
number  of  meals  eaten  by  each.  As  much  information  as  possible 
•  was  collected  regarding  the  health,  racial  stock,  income  and  general 
economic  condition  of  the  family;  the  latter  might  be  designated  by 
number  rather  than  name,  and  thus  be  identified  only  by  the 
investigator. 

The  preliminary  survey  was  necessarily  so  hastily  organized 
that  it  was  impossible  to  include  as  many  of  these  consumption 
records  as  were  desired  or  to  distribute  them  as  carefully  as  was 
wished  in  relation  to  rural  and  urban  population,  industrial  and 
agricultural  conditions,  nationality  and  so  on.  Fifteen  states 
were  represented,  chosen  with  reference  to  their  general  known 
dietary  conditions.  City  and  rural  studies  were  included,  the 
families  representing  various  nationalities  and  incomes  ranging 
from  $450  to  $7,500.  In  the  second  survey  it  is  hoped  to  have  at 
least  10,000  records  with  all  the  states  represented  and  to  ap- 
portion the  families  with  due  reference  to  urban  and  rural  popu- 
lation, racial  stocks,  occupations  and  so  on.  Even  so,  the  results 
will  not  be  relied  on  to  indicate  accurately  how  much  protein  and 
energy  is  used  per  man  per  day,  but  rather  to  give  a  rough  sketch  of 
what  the  people  in  the  different  sections  commonly  eat.  If  the 
study  does  no  more  than  indicate  about  how  much  milk  the  families 
use,  especially  how  much  goes  to  the  children  under  seven,  it  will 
have  been  worth  making.  Even  the  preliminary  survey,  inac- 
curate and  incomplete  as  it  is,  will  tell  us  more  than  we  have  ever 
known  about  our  national  food  habits. 


114  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academ¥ 

For  more  accurate  information  as  to  the  kind  and  amounts  of 
food  consumed,  another  type  of  records  has  been  provided.  These 
are  known  as  dietary  studies;  the  method  of  making  them  has  been 
in  use  for  forty  or  fifty  years,  and  any  intelligent  senior  in  a  college 
course  in  home  economics  should  be  able  to  conduct  one.  All  the 
food  on  hand  at  the  beginning  of  the  study,  all  that  procured  during 
its  course,  and  all  remaining  at  the  end,  is  carefully  weighed  and 
recorded.  All  waste  and  refuse  are  also  noted.  From  these  the 
amount  of  each  food  material  actually  used  is  determined.  The 
percentage  composition  of  each  is  then  obtained  from  standard 
tables,  or  in  rare  cases,  specially  found  by  analysis,  and  by  the  use 
of  these  figures  the  protein,  fats,  carbohydrates  and  energy  provided 
are  easily  calculated.  In  these  dietary  studies  accurate  note  is 
made  of  the  age,  sex,  weight,  general  condition  and  occupation  of 
the  different  members  of  the  family  by  means  of  which  the  nutrients 
and  energy  actually  consumed  per  person  or  per  man  per  day  are 
calculated.  As  full  information  as  possible  is  also  obtained  regard- 
ing the  income,  health  and  general  standards  of  living.  The  dura- 
tion of  such  a  dietary  study  varies  from  two  or  three  days  to  several 
weeks;  those  included  in  the  food  survey  are  for  one  week.  If 
studies  can  be  made  in  the  same  family  at  different  times  of  the  year 
the  difference  which  seasons  make  in  the  diet  is  also  shown:  a 
condition  met,  in  part  at  least,  by  the  preUminary  and  final  surveys 
which  will  represent  late  summer  and  early  winter  diets,  that  is, 
the  season  in  which  fresh  fruits  and  vegetables  are  most  abundant 
and  that  in  which  those  materials  are  available  mainly  in  conserved 
forms. 

In  the  preliminary  survey  it  was  not  feasible  to  have  the  dietary 
studies  made  through  the  same  agencies  as  the  food  consumption 
studies,  but  the  voluntary  cooperation  of  suitable  institutions  and 
individuals  was  asked.  Blanks  and  carefully  worded  instructions 
were  sent  out  by  means  of  which  the  task  of  collecting  the  desired 
data  was  made  as  simple  as  possible.  All  the  state  agricultural 
colleges  and  nearly  all  the  privately  endowed  colleges  having  de- 
partments in  home  economics  were  appealed  to  and  also  a  selected 
list  of  normal  schools  and  other  institutions,  numbering  about  390 
in  all.  These  are  scattered  throughout  the  forty-eight  states,  the 
largest  numbers  of  studies  being  requested  where  population  is 
densest. 


The  Nation's  Dietary  Needs  115 

These  institutions  were  requested  to  distribute  the  blanks 
among  their  students  or  graduates  in  home  economics,  who  in  turn 
were  asked  to  fill  them  in  with  data  from  well  selected  families: 
As  far  as  possible  these  families  were  chosen  with  reference  to  typical 
variations  in  region,  industrial  condition,  racial  stocks,  etc.  In 
addition  to  the  1,800  studies  thus  obtained,  about  700  blanks  were 
filled  out  by  selected  individuals  (mainly  members  of  the  American 
Home  Economics  Association)  either  in  their  own  homes  or  in  those 
of  families  whose  cooperation  they  secured. 

In  gaining  the  consent  of  a  family  to  have  such  a  study  made, 
the  national  importance  of  such  information  was  explained  and  their 
help  was  represented  as  a  real  patriotic  service.  The  investigator 
conducting  the  study  usually  found  it  advisable  to  pay  a  daily  visit 
in  addition  to  those  at  the  beginning  and  end  of  the  study,  and  was 
expected  to  fill  in  the  blanks  herself.  All  the  calculations  are  to  be 
made  at  the  Department  of  Agriculture  at  Washington  by  the 
trained  computers  for  the  food  survey.  It  is  of  course  still  too  early 
to  say  how  successful  this  method  of  collecting  dietary  studies  will 
prove  but  the  indications  are^  that  there  will  be  reliable  studies 
from  nearly  all -the  states.  In  the  final  survey  it  is  hoped  to 
repeat  the  studies  in  enough  of  the  families  represented  in  the  pre- 
liminary one  to  give  a  just  idea  of  seasonal  variations  in  diet,  and  to 
include  others  which  will  fill  in  the  gap  left  in  the  first.  If,  in  addi- 
tion to  these  studies,  the  Food  Administration  carries  out  its  proposed 
plan  of  making  similar  studies  in  hotels,  restaurants  and  clubs  where 
large  numbers  of  persons  are  fed  and  if  we  can  compile  with  these 
the  results  of  such  work  as  the  dietary  studies  made  last  spring  by 
the  United  States  Departments  of  Labor  and  Agriculture  in  con- 
nection with  a  cost  of  living  survey  in  the  District  of  Columbia  and 
those  conducted  a  few  weeks  since  in  connection  with  the  food  con- 
servation work  of  the  Massachusetts  Council  of  National  Defense, 
etc.,  we  shall  have  a  more  complete  picture  of  national  food  habits 
than  has  ever  been  attempted  before. 

It  is  true  that  the  food  supply  this  year  is  abnormal  and  that 
the  picture  thus  presented  may  not  show  exactly  what  the  nation 
habitually  eats.  This,  however,  will  not  destroy  its  present  value 
as  a  dietary  guide.  If  we  learn  that  among  certain  groups  there  is 
evident  under-nourishment  we  can  more  intelligently  direct  our 
efforts  toward  improving  their  supply  because  we  will  know  wherein 


116  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

the  diet  is  deficient.  If  we  find  that  the  majority  of  children  under 
three  do  not  get  the  quart  of  milk  per  day  which  is  believed  neces- 
sary for  their  proper  development,  something  must  be  done  to  in- 
crease the  amount  available  for  them,  either  by  increasing  the  total 
amount  of  milk  produced,  or  by  lessening  the  amount  used  for  mak- 
ing butter  and  cream  or  both. 

If,  in  spite  of  high  prices  and  general  dislocation  of  the  usual 
sources  of  supply,  large  sections  of  our  population  appear  still  to 
be  eating  more  than  the  standard  requirement,  we  shall  be  more  than 
ever  justified  in  urging  them  to  curtail  for  the  benefit  of  our  allies. 
Moreover,  we  may  find  that  in  many,  and  perhaps  in  most  sections  of 
the  country,  our  food  habits  have  not  yet  been  disturbed  to  any 
important  extent. 

Unfortunately  we  have  no  recent  dietary  studies  on  which  to 
base  such  a  comparison.  Most  of  the  statements  now  made  re- 
garding the  diet  of  the  United  States  as  a  whole  are  based  on  a  com- 
pilation of  400  or  more  studies  made  under  the  auspices  of  the 
United  States  Department  of  Agriculture  between  1890  and  1905. 
Incomplete  as  such  a  compilation  seems  in  contrast  to  that  under- 
taken by  the  food  survey,  it  is  a  more  accurate  guide  than  is  available 
in  any  country  except  Germany  and  possibly  Belgium,  and  is  fully 
as  reliable  as  the  data  on  which  many  accepted  statements  of  the 
general  cost  of  living  are  based.  According  to  that  compilation 
38.5  per  cent  of  the  total  food  in  the  average  American  family  Is  of 
animal  origin,  of  which  16  per  cent  comes  from  meat  (including  lard) 
and  poultry,  1.8  per  cent  from  fish,  2.1  per  cent  from  eggs,  and  18.4 
per  cent  from  dairy  products.  Of  the  61.5  per  cent  supplied  by 
vegetable  foods,  30.6  per  cent  comes  from  cereals,  24.7  per  cent  from 
fruits  and  vegetables  and  5.4  per  cent  from  sugar  and  miscellaneous 
materials.  Judging  by  recent  estimates  of  food  consumption  in  950 
farm  homes  in  fourteen  states  recently  made  by  the  Bureau  of  Farm 
Management^  and  by  production  and  trade  figures,  the  use  of  meat 
was  decreasing  during  the  years  preceding  1915,  and  the  use  of  fruits 
and  vegetables  was  increasing,  though  to  exactly  what  extent  it  is 
impossible  to  say.  It  seems  likely  that  both  these  tendencies  will 
be  found  to  be  intensified  under  present  conditions.     The  increased 

'  U.  S.  Dept.  Agricultural  Bulletin  410.  Value  to  Farm  Families  of  Food> 
Fuel,  and  Use  of  House,  by  W.  C.  Funk.  U.  S.  Dept.  Asricultural  Bulletin,  636- 
Whai  the  Farm  Contributes  to  the  Farmer's  Living,  by  W.  C.  Funk. 


I 


The  Nation's  Dietary  Needs  117 


use  of  fruits  and  vegetables  is  undoubtedly  beneficial;  and  the  de- 
creased use  of  meats  is  not  dangerous  as  long  as  small  amounts  are 
used  occasionally  and  the  total  protein  requirement  is  met  by  other 
protein-rich  foods,  including  milk  and  its  products. 

It  may  be  interesting  to  see  how  these  older  American  dietary 
studies  compare  with  the  results  of  the  German  and  British  calcu- 
lations alluded  to  before.  Such  a  comparison  cannot  be  accurate 
because  the  food  materials  are  not  uniformly  grouped  in  the  differ- 
ent compilations,  and  because  the  foreign  studies  represent  gross 
consumption  and  make  no  allowance  for  waste,  either  in  marketing 
or  in  the  household,  whereas  the  American  ones  refer  to  food  actu- 
ally consumed.  The  German  figures^  for  per  man  per  day  con- 
sumption were  117.3  grams  of  protein  and  4,164  calories  of  energy. 
Thompson's  figures^  for  Great  Britain  are  105  grams  of  protein  and 
4,190  calories  of  energy.  Corresponding  ones  in  the  official  English 
report*  are  113  grams  of  protein  and  4,009  calories  of  energy  per  man 
per  day.  Thompson  estimated  the  average  waste  between  pro- 
ducer and  consumer  at  7.5  per  cent.  Assuming  this  to  be  correct 
for  all  three  studies,  the  figures  become,  for  the  German  report,  109 
grams  of  protein  and  3,852  calories  of  energy;  for  the  Thompson  re- 
port, 97  grams  of  protein  and  3,875  calories  of  energy;  and  for  the 
Board  of  Trade  report,  105  grams  of  protein  and  3,708  calories  of 
energy.  A  rough  average  of  the  400  American  dietary  studies  indi- 
cates about  95  grams  of  protein  and  3,500  calories  of  energy  ac- 
tually consumed  per  man  per  day. 

In  order  to  make  these  figures  comparable  with  the  foreign 
ones,  allowance  must  be  made  for  household  waste.  This  has  been 
found  to  run  from  nothing  up  to  as  high  as  20  per  cent,  according  to 
the  carefulness  of  the  housekeeper.  The  average  is  probably  be- 
tween 7.5  and  10  per  cent.  Assuming  the  latter  figure  to  be  correct, 
the  per  man  per  day  consumption  of  food  as  purchased  becomes  1 05 

-  Die  deutsche  Volkserndhrung  und  der  englische  Aushungerungsplati,  Edited 
by  Paul  Eltzbacher,  Brunswick,  1914,  pp.  vii,  196. 

» A  calculation  of  the  foodstuffs  and  energy  of  Great  Britain's  food  supply, 
W.  H.  Thompson — Communication  to  the  Royal  Dublin  Society,  Oct.  26,  1915. 
Abridged  under  the  title  of  The  Daily  Food  Ration  of  Great  Britain,  Nature  [Lon- 
don] 96  (1916),  No.  2416,  pp.  687-690. 

*  The  Food  Supply  of  the  United  Kingdom.  A  report  drawn  up  by  a  committee 
of  the  Royal  Society  at  the  request  of  the  President  of  the  Board  of  Trade,  Lon- 
don. 


118   .  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

grams  of  protein  and  3,850  calories  of  energy  per  man  per  day. 

These  figures  probably  underestimate  the  true  average  consump- 
tion because  a  larger  proportion  of  the  studies  on  which  they  are 
based  were  made  among  families  lower  in  the  economic  scale  than 
would  be  found  in  the  total  population.  In  fact  unpublished  esti- 
mates of  rural  diets  based  on  the  farm  management  studies  already 
referred  to,  show  110  grams  of  protein  and  3,964  calories  of  energy 
per  man  per  day.  This  indicates  that  the  average  normal  Ameri- 
can diet  is  higher  than  the  English  in  both  protein  and  energy,  equal 
to  the  German  in  protein  and  superior  to  it  in  energy.  Its  principal 
advantage  over  the  European  ones,  however,  lies  in  the  fact  that  it 
includes  a  greater  variety  of  food  materials,  notably  of  fruits  and 
vegetables.  This  variety  is  probably  one  reason  for  its  greater  cost. 
The  many  assumptions  made  in  this  rough  comparison  of  our 
own  and  foreign  food  consumption  furnish  a  good  illustration  of  the 
guesswork  used  in  all  such  estimates  and  emphasize  again  the  need 
of  such  information  as  that  provided  by  the  dietary  studies  of  the 
war  emergency  food  survey.  If  we  succeed  in  carrying  these 
through  successfully  we  may  have  developed  machinery  simple 
enough  to  be  used  whenever  occasion  requires.  Indeed,  some  well- 
informed  food  economists  hope  that  in  the  future  such  dietary 
surveys  will  become  a  recognized  part  of  our  statistical  information 
and  be  made  as  regularly  as  cost  of  living  studies  are  now.  Be  that 
as  it  may,  the  extensive  series  now  begun  ought  to  provide  a  reliable 
working  guide  for  the  present  emergency,  and  an  almost  inexhaus- 
tible mine  of  general  information  for  the  student  of  nutrition  in 
the  United  States. 


SOME   FACTS   TO    BE    CONSIDERED    IN    CONNECTION 
WITH  THE  FOOD   PROBLEM 

By  Howard  Heinz, 

Chairman  of  Committee  on  Food  Supply,  Committee  of  Public  Safety  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. 

Dr.  Nansen  spoke  about  the  misfortune  of  Norway  in  losing 
almost  all  her  fine  inhabitants,  and  I  want  to  say  that  it  has  been 
my  experience  that  it  has  been  this  country's  good  fortune  to  have 
gained  them. 

I  believe  if  every  man  and  woman  in  this  country  knew  Mr. 
Hoover  as  he  is,  the  unselfish  way  in  which  he  is  going  about  his 
job,  the  fact  that  he  has  nothing  to  gain,  no  glory  in  it,  but  runs  the 
chance  of  criticism  from  farmer,  from  distributor  and  finally,  from 
the  consumer — they  would  still  better  realize  the  size  and  importance 
of  the  service  that  he  is  giving  to  his  country. 

I  speak  not  as  an  expert,  not  as  a  scientist,  but  just  as  a  plain, 
common  consumer  who  is  very  much  interested  in  the  problem  that 
concerns  the  people  of  our  commonwealth,  the  nation  and  the  world 
at  large :  our  food  supply. 

With  between  thirty  and  thirty-five  million  men  in  uniform, 
consuming  a  daily  average  of  at  least  35  to  40  per  cent  more  than  is 
their  custom,  with  every  man  and  woman  in  this  country,  who  is 
willing  to  work,  in  a  job,  which  means  also  increased  consumption  of 
food,  we  have  the  greatest  demand  for  food  that  the  world  has  ever 
known. 

What  have  we  in  supply?  In  the  meat  supply,  we  have  a  world 
shortage  of  115,000,000  meat  animals  today,  and  it  is  growing  every 
day  because  of  the  inability  of  foreign  countries  to  provide  sufficient 
fodder.  In  England  today,  they  have  decided  to  begin  killing  off 
more  extensively  their  animals  in  order  to  preserve  their  maize  for 
human  consumption.  In  this  country,  we  have  today  seven  million 
less  meat  animals  than  we  had  seventeen  years  ago,  and  our  popula- 
tion is  26,000,000  more  than  it  was  at  that  time;  thus,  you  can  see 
how  far  away  we  are  from  meeting  even  the  home  demand  and  the 

119 


120  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

reason  for  the  present  price  of  meat.  I  think  it  is  estimated  that 
43  per  cent  of  man's  living  cost  goes  for  food,  and  nearly  50  per  cent 
of  that,  on  an  average,  goes  into  meat  and  meat  products;  hence, 
the  importance  of  the  meat  situation. 

The  world  wheat  shortage  amounts  to  millions  of  bushels.  Our 
allies  have  called  upon  us  for  between  250,000,000  and  300,000,000 
bushels  of  wheat  if  we  can  get  boats  over  safely  with  it;  and  if  we 
can't,  God  pity  our  allies. 

Now,  how  are  we  going  to  meet  this  question  of  world  shortage 
m  food  supplies?  I  want  to  direct  your  attention  to  what  seems  to 
me  to  be  one  of  the  most  important  points  and  one  of  the  first  to  be 
discussed,  namely,  the  question  of  production.  People  who  live  in 
cities  and  who  have  to  pay  high  prices  don't  consider  that  suffi- 
ciently. We  have  to  enter  into  a  serious  consideration  of  the  world's 
production  markets  to  enable  us  to  gain  a  proper  attitude  toward 
the  producer.     The  farmer  is  too  little  understood. 

Have  you  ever  seen  any  millionaires  made  on  farms?  I  haven't. 
Forty  per  cent  of  the  farms  in  this  state  of  Pennsylvania  are  occupied 
by  tenants  today.  Does  that  indicate  that  there  is  very  much  money 
in  farming  in  Pennsylvania?  Do  you  know  that  the  farmer  is  paying 
from  75  to  150  per  cent  more  for  his  machinery?  Do  you  know  that 
his  labor  has  increased  over  100  per  cent?  His  seed  has  increased 
in  some  instances  from  200  to  300  per  cent.  His  fertilizer,  when 
he  can  get  it,  is  at  almost  prohibitive  prices.  The  farmer  has  prob- 
lems that  we  must  help  him  to  meet.  It  might,  for  example,  be 
very  much  better  for  us  to  pay  an  increased  price  for  milk  as  a  means 
of  diminishing  the  number  of  dairy  cattle  that  are  being  sold  for 
slaughter  because  of  the  high  cost  of  feed.  For  if  they  go  on  killing 
off  dairy  cows  at  the  rate  they  have  in  the  last  three  of  four  months, 
milk  is  more  likely  to  be  twenty  cents  a  quart  within  the  next  twelve 
months  than  to  be  less.  In  other  words,  as  a  first  step  in  solving  the 
food  problem,  we  must  encourage  the  producer  and  give  him  at 
least  a  reasonable  profit  if  we  want  him  to  continue  in  business. 

The  proper  encouragement  of  production,  if  we  will  just  carry 
it  far  enough,  will  take  us  a  great  way  toward  the  solution  of  the 
entire  difficulty,  for  we  can  talk  about  marketing  and  we  can  talk 
about  conservation,  but  if  we  don't  produce,  we  won't  have  any- 
thing to  distribute  or  to  conserve. 

The  perplexing  subject  of  markets  and  distribution  is  receiving 


\ 


The  Food  Problem  121 


much  attention  in  Washington  and  by  the  various  states.  The 
middleman  who  is  concerned  with  this  phase  of  the  situation  is 
blamed,  perhaps  unjustly,  for  many  of  our  woes.  I  don't  beheve 
there  is  going  to  be  established  immediately  a  new  method  of  market- 
ing. There  will  be  some  attempts  at  it  that  will  help  the  situation, 
but  a  complete  change  of  our  whole  marketing  and  distributing 
problem  will  not  be  made  in  a  day.  It  has  taken  a  great  many  years 
to  get  us  into  our  present  condition,  and  it  will  take  us  some  years 
to  get  out  of  it.  But  there  are  many  things  that  can  be  done.  I 
think  the  Federal  Food  Administration  Law  as  interpreted  and  put 
into  execution  by  Mr.  Hoover  and  those  associated  with  him  will 
tend  to  eliminate  some  of  the  extra  commission  men  and  brokers 
that  are  not  only  needless,  but  actually  detrimental  to  both  pro- 
ducing and  consuming  interests. 

I  think,  too,  that  Mr.  Hoover's  control  of  profits,  the  prevention 
of  hoarding,  the  cutting  out  of  speculation,  will  go  a  long  way  toward 
solving  the  problem  of  distribution  cost.  Woe  be  to  the  food  pirate 
who  falls  into  the  clutches  of  the  law.  It  will  not  be  very  healthful 
for  him,  and  it  shouldn't  be,  for  with  the  condition  of  the  food  supply 
of  the  world  today,  for  a  man  to  bargain,  to  hoard,  to  speculate  in 
that  which  concerns  human  existence,  is  an  outrage  against  human- 
ity and  should  be  stamped  out. 

We  are  trying  in  Pennsylvania  some  changes  from  the  regula- 
tion channels  of  distribution  by  the  establishment  of  curb  markets. 
They  have  been  successful  in  a  number  of  places  and  we  have  in  view 
the  establishment  of  many  more  of  them.  They  bring  the  producer 
and  the  consun.er  immediately  together;  the  producer  getting  more 
for  his  produce  than  he  would  through  the  commission  man  and  the 
retail  grocer,  and  the  consumer  getting  his  goods  more  cheaply. 

Another  feature  of  the  distribution  problem  that  demands 
reform  is  the  matter  of  merchandising  service.  For  many  years 
merchants  have  been  educating  consumers  to  expect  service  with 
every  purchase,  and  of  course  the  consumer  is  charged  for  the 
service  whether  he  gets  it  or  not.  Now,  if  the  consumer  will  go  to  the 
store  and  shop  for  what  is  there,  pay  cash  and  carry  it  away,  we  can 
cut  down  the  cost  of  distribution  considerably.  One  grocer  told 
me  that  he  could  afford,  without  any  question,  to  reduce  his  prices, 
particularly  of  perishables,  from  10  to  12  per  cent  if  people  would 
come  to  his  store,  pay  cash  and  take  the  things  home.      In  regard 


122  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

to  the  question  of  deliveries,  some  grocers  actually  average  four, 
deliveries  per  day  per  house.     Somebody  has  to  paj'-  for  this,  and  as 
such  service  is  always  unequal,  the  poor,  who  naturally  receive  the 
least,  suffer  most.     Such  practices  must  stop  if  we  are  to  have  any 
kind  of  a  fair  method  of  distribution. 

I  heard  the  other  day  that  it  was  possible  in  a  certain  bakery 
to  bake  bread  for  four  and  one-half  cents  for  a  fourteen-ounce  loaf, 
but  that  when  that  loaf  was  delivered  to  the  family  it  actually  cost 
seven  and  one-half  cents.  Now  think  of  it:  from  the  bakery  to  the 
grocery  store,  through  the  grocery  store  and  delivered  to  the  house, 
it  went  up  from  four  and  one-half  cents  to  seven  and  one-half  cents, 
almost  75  per  cent.  That  bakery  could  have  sold  its  product  at  the 
bakery  door,  with  service  eliminated,  for  five  cents. 

The  third  thing  that  we  have  to  deal  with  in  this  problem  of 
food  supply  is  the  great  one  of  conservation.  The  women  of  Penn- 
sylvania have — for  we  have  had  investigations  made  which  show 
it — practiced  avoidance  of  waste  to  the  extent  that  some  of  the 
garbage  plants  or  people  in  the  fertilizing  business  who  get  their 
material  from  garbage  plants,  have  been  complaining  over  the  lack 
of  garbage  that  is  being  collected  recently.  In  food  conservation 
I  think  the  women  have  caught  on  to  what  is  necessary.  Many  of 
them  practiced  thrift  long  before  this  war  came  on,  but  simply 
because  they  did  so  doesn't  mean  that  there  isn't  a  lot  more  to  do, 
because  there  are  little  ends  to  put  in  here  and  there  that  still  would 
make  a  big  volume  as  applied  to  the  whole  of  the  country. 

But  there  is  one  factor  that  doesn't  know  what  food  conserva- 
tion means,  and  I  am  sorry  to  say  it  is  my  own  sex.  Taking  him  as 
a  whole,  man  does  not  seem  to  realize  what  is  necessary  for  him  to 
do  in  food  conservation.  They  say  that  that  is  a  woman's  problem. 
I  have  seen  very  few  men  eating  in  restaurants  who  have  changed 
their  usual  habits. 

Then  I  think  about  10  per  cent  of  the  population  in  this  country 
probably  overeat  50  per  cent  and  that  another  25  per  cent  overeat 
25  per  cent.  There  are  too  many  people,  you  will  agree  with  me, 
who  do  overeat  and  perhaps  deprive  somebody  else  of  needed  food 
and  at  the  same  time  helping  the  continual  advance  in  prices.  And 
I  want  to  say  to  you  that  I  fear  prices  will  be  higher  before  they 
are  lower.  The  crops  are  nearly  garnered.  We  know  pretty  nearly 
what  we  have  got,  and  we  know  how  far  it  falls  short  of  our  demand. 


I 


The  Housekeeper  and  the  Food  Problem  123 

Those  people  who  are  dealing  directly  with  the  food  problem 
are  not  the  only  ones  who  should  study  it  and  observe  the  principles 
involved  in  it.  Every  man,  woman  and  child  should  enter  into  the 
war  to  the  extent  or  realizing  each  his  own  personal,  individual  re- 
sponsibility and  should  play  his  part  if  our  country  hopes  to  win  the 
war  for  democracy.  It  will  take  every  bit  that  everybody  has,  with 
perfect  team  play,  to  win  the  battle.  God  grant  that  we  may  win 
it  soon. 


THE  HOUSEKEEPER  AND  THE  FOOD  PROBLEM 

By  Charlotte  Perkins  Oilman, 
Author  and  Lecturer,  New  York  City. 

The  food  problem  is: 

A.  How  to  produce  the  most  food  with  the  least  cost  in 
time,  labor  and  money; 

B.  How  to  distribute  it  to  the  consumer  most  swiftly, 
efficiently  and  economically; 

C.  How  to  prepare  and  serve  it,  with  the  least  cost  in 
time,  labor  and  money,  and  with  the  best  effect  on  our  health 
and  happiness. 

The  housekeeper  is  the  person  who  stands  before  the  third 
clause  in  the  problem;  who  is  immediately  responsible  for  those 
last  elements  of  cost  and  of  human  well-being.  She  is  not  ulti- 
mately responsible,  as  she  acts  under  direction.  The  income  of  the 
head  of  the  family  limits  the  style  in  which  they  live,  and  his  tastes 
count  strongly  in  the  manner  of  food  served.  But  as  he  deputes 
this  work  to  the  housekeeper  and  abides  by  the  result,  she  becomes 
the  direct  agent  in  the  choice  and  treatment  of  the  world's  food. 

Food  is  produced  by  farmers,  graziers  and  the  like  for  indi- 
vidual profit,  and  with  so  little  general  knowledge  of  the  needs  of 
the  world,  of  national  or  international  relations,  of  labor  conditions, 
or  even  of  the  essential  science  of  the  business  itself,  that  the  pro- 
duction is  by  no  means  at  the  least  cost. 

The  farmer,  so  far  as  he  understands  it,  must  consider  "the 
market"  in  deciding  what,  when  and  how  much  to  raise,  and  that 
"market"  touches  the  next  step — distribution. 


124  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

We  here  enter  the  field  of  speculation.  Food  is  gathered  to- 
gether in  such  immense  quantities  for  storage  and  shipment  that  it 
offers  a  most  tempting  opportunity  for  "profiteering."  In  storage 
rates,  transportation  rates  and  "market  prices"  the  cost  of  food  is 
manipulated  and  its  nature  and  quality  dictated,  so  that  most 
serious  effects  are  felt  in  the  last  stage,  that  of  preparation.  j 

Here  stands  the  housekeeper.  Behind  her  are  the  needs  and  j 
preferences  of  her  family,  the  limits  of  her  time,  her  strength,  her 
knowledge  and  her  purse.  Before  her  is  the  retail  market,  where 
prices  and  qualities  go  up  or  down,  moved  by  invisible  hands.  It  • 
seldom  occurs  to  her  to  question  or  protest  as  to  these  prices  or  the 
frequently  lamentable  quality  of  what  is  offered.  "The  market" 
is  more  vague  to  her  than  it  is  to  the  farmer. 

We  have  begun  to  reach,  in  recent  years,  the  producer's  end 
of  this  chain.  Large  public  assistance  has  been  given  and  wide 
research  made,  by  governments  and  by  men  of  genius  like  Luther 
Burbank.  Experiment  stations  have  been  established,  instruction 
offered  and  all  manner  of  stimulation  to  improve  and  guide  produc- 
tion. 

Under  imminent  pressure  of  war  conditions  we  are  now  begin- 
ning to  take  hold  of  the  distributing  part  of  this  great  business  of 
feeding  the  world.  The  anti-social  crime  of  injuring  the  people's 
food,  or  of  charging  extortionate  prices  for  the  necessities  of  life,  is 
just  beginning  to  be  recognized  and  will  soon  meet  punishment. 

But  quite  beyond  this  comes  the  third  stage,  the  one  nearest 
home,  the  final  process,  in  the  hands  of  the  housekeeper.  This 
work  must  now  be  studied  as  to  its  efficiency  and  economy.  ■ 

Recent  studies  in  distribution  of  manufactured  articles  show 
that  of  the  consumer's  dollar  about  one-third  pays  for  the  goods,  say 
one-sixth  goes  to  the  manufacturer,  one-sixth  to  the  wholesaler,  and 
the  other  third  to  the  retailer.  In  food  products  the  retailer  often 
gets  much  more  than  a  third,  sometimes  more  than  one-half. 

No  other  retail  business  demands  such  limitless  rehandling. 
Our  drygoods  stores  are  crowded  with  shoppers,  but  we  do  not  have 
to  buy  clothing  every  day  and  sometimes  oftener.  The  retail  food 
dealer  must  pursue  the  consumer,  who  is  always  limited  in  time 
and  strength;  must  place  his  wares  as  near  as  possible  to  the  home, 
must  even  overflow  into  wagons  and  pushcarts,  shouting  hoarsely 
through  residence  streets. 


J 


The  Housekeeper  and  the  Food  Problem    125 

In  the  classified  directory  of  New  York  City  there  are  Hsted 
three  and  a  half  columns  of  retail  drygoods  stores;  while  of  retail 
food  stores  there  are:  butchers,  sixteen  and  a  half  columns;  grocers, 
twelve  and  a  half;  bakers,  five;  confectioners,  five;  milk  dealers, 
four  and  a  half;  delicatessen,  four;  fruit  and  nuts,  four;  butter, 
cheese  and  eggs,  three  and  a  half;  fish,  two  and  a  third;  ice,  one;  in 
all  about  fifty-eight  columns.  Of  the  small  shops  without  telephones, 
the  booths,  wagons  and  pushcarts — the  proportion  would  probably 
be  still  greater.  Even  without  speculation  or  dishonesty  it  is  easy 
to  see  how  large  a  part  of  the  cost  of  our  food  supplies  is  due  to  this 
profuse  multiplication  of  retail  handling  and  delivery. 

Before  this  expense  the  housekeeper  stands  helpless.  She  has 
neither  knowledge  nor  power  in  these  weighty  matters  of  produc- 
tion and  distribution.  Her  part  in  the  food  problem  is  to  buy  as 
wisely  as  she  can,  as  cheaply  as  she  must,  §,nd  to  prepare  her  pur- 
chases so  as  to  meet  the  tastes  and  needs  of  the  family.  I  put 
tastes  first  because  of  the  peculiarly  helpless  position  of  this  func- 
tionary in  relation  to  those  whom  she  serves. 

In  other  trades  the  dealer  may  tell  you  that  he  does  not  "  carry" 
this,  or  "they  are  not  wearing  that";  you  may  take  it  or  leave  it; 
he  has  his  chance  of  other  patronage.  But  in  this  trade  here  is 
Jones,  who  pays  the  freight,  and  Mrs.  Jones,  whose  business  it  is 
to  cook  the  steak  as  he  likes  it,  to  make  apple  pie  or  angel  cake  as 
he  prefers;  and  here  also  are  the  little  Joneseo,  (i'onservative  of 
taste  as  children  are,  merciless  in  criticism,  and — always  there.  No 
other  worker  has  to  live  with  his  market  as  must  the  housekeeper 
with  hers. 

In  our  country  it  has  been  estimated  that  only  one  woman  in 
sixteen  keeps  even  one  servant.  In  the  great  majority  of  cases  the 
wife  and  mother  is  also  the  domestic  servant,  with  a  total  of  activi- 
ties such  as  to  prevent  high  efficiency  in  any.  To  her  of  late  years 
has  come  an  unwonted  pressure  of  responsibility  as  to  health,  as 
to  dietetics.  To  the  limitations  of  her  knowledge  and  skill,  the 
limitations  of  her  income  (the  working  housewife  always  has  a 
limited  income)  and  the  demands  of  the  family  taste,  has  been 
added  this  burden  as  to  proteids  and  calories.  The  importance  of 
scientific  cooking  to  the  public  health  is  undeniable,  but  it  is  made 
a  jest  of  by  newspaper  wits,  and  is  by  no  means  taken  seriously  by 
Mr.  Jones,  who  prefers  the  pie  "like  mother  used  to  make." 


126  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

And  now  comes  the  great  war.  It  comes  even  to  us,  at  last, 
and  with  it  the  splendid  burden  of  feeding  the  world.  In  facing 
this  duty  the  food  administration  first  demands  larger  and  more 
careful  production,  then  applies  pressure  to  the  criminally  mis- 
handled processes  of  distribution,  and  then  turns  to  the  house- 
keeper and  bids  her  save! 

We  are  asking  economy  of  the  most  wasteful  of  our  industrial 
processes,  the  inherently  and  hopelessly  wasteful  method  of  pre- 
paring food  by  means  of  one  cook  and  one  kitchen  to  each  family. 
To  get  the  best  results  from  our  effort  to  improve  this  primitive 
industry  we  must  supply  to  all  our  millions  of  housewives,  printed 
in  many  languages,  the  plainest  and  simplest  of  directions.  These 
should  give  not  only  information  as  to  food  values  and  methods  of 
economizing,  but  model  menus,  "balanced  rations,"  with  a  graded 
scale  of  cost,  showing  \yhat  is  the  least  amount  and  variety  that  will 
keep  us  in  health  and  working  efficiency,  and  offering  wider  choices 
also. 

This  being  done  it  remains  to  see  that  prices  and  wages  are 
such  as  to  allow  at  least  this  minimum  to  all  our  people,  else  we 
remain  ill-nourished  and  underfed,  as  so  many  are  now,  in  spite  of 
all  the  proposed  instruction.  And  further  it  remains,  in  some  as 
yet  undiscussed  manner,  to  induce  the  family  to  eat  what  we  have 
so  laboriously  urged  the  housekeeper  to  prepare. 

Among  women  already  intelligent,  already  competent,  already 
willing,  much  may  be  done.  People  who  have  purchased  too 
lavishly,  who  have  wasted  riotously,  may  be  induced  to  retrench, 
and  simple  restrictions,  such  as  going  without  wheat  bread  or  meat 
on  certain  days,  will  be  widely  accepted.  But  in  the  face  of  what 
may  prove  the  most  important  phase  of  this  world-changing  war, 
our  well-meant  campaign  of  trying  to  improve  conditions  in  twenty 
million  kitchens,  trying  to  change  the  habits  of  twenty  million  cooks, 
seems  both  futile  and  pathetic. 

What  should  be  the  attitude  of  the  housekeeper,  and  of  the 
nation,  toward  the  food  problem? 

It  should  be  recognized  that  the  preparation  of  food  is  no 
longer  a  domestic  industry.  It  is  no  more  an  integral  part  of  home 
life  than  is  the  making  of  cloth,  once  so  exclusively  feminine  and 
domestic  that  the  unmarried  woman  is  still  spoken  of  as  a  "spin- 
ster," So  perhaps  might  the  term  "  cookster"  be  applied  to  women 
long  after  they  have  escaped  that  universal  service. 


I 


The  Housekeeper  and  the  Food  Problem  127 

The  scientific  knowledge,  the  trained  skill,  the  wide  experience, 
the  discriminatory  buying  power  which  should  be  devoted  to  the 
proper  feeding  of  the  world  can  never  be  developed  by  the  over- 
worked, ignorant,  unpaid  mother-servant. 

In  the  interests  of  economy  we  should  clearly  see  that  a  system 
of  service  which  wastes  90  per  cent  of  the  "plant,"  of  the  running 
expenses  and  of  the  labor  involved — which  allows  maximum  prices 
with  all  manner  of  extortion,  and  inferiority  of  materials,  and  which 
patently  fails  to  maintain  the  health  of  the  community,  ought  not 
to  be  persisted  in  merely  from  inherited  sentiment  and  habit. 

The  drained  and  wasted  nations  are  beginning  to  count  their 
"woman  power,"  to  see  that  where  men  must  die  women  must 
take  their  places  as  workers.  They  are  doing  this  the  world  over 
with  such  unexpected  ability  and  success  as  to  give  a  new  status  to 
womanhood.  The  women  of  America  share  with  the  men  of  America 
in  the  high  honor  of  such  a  call  to  world  service  as  never  came  to 
any  nation  before.  It  is  possible  that  bitter  necessity  may  be  added 
to  the  call  of  honor  before  our  work  is  done. 

That  this  work  may  be  well  done,  quickly  done,  done  with  the 
least  loss  of  Ufe  and  treasure,  requires  the  best  service  of  all. 

With  what  conscience  then  can  we  persist  in  a  method  of  indus- 
try which,  in  kitchen  service  alone,  wastes  the  labor  of  nine  women 
out  of  ten?  If  all  house  service  was  professionalized,  done  by  trained 
specialists  with  proper  organization  and  mechanical  conveniences, 
we  could  release  the  labor  power  of  80  per  cent  of  our  women. 

Counting  that  labor  at  charwoman's  wages,  say  $500  a  year, 
allowing  fifteen  out  of  our  twenty  million  women  as  working  house- 
wives (this  omits  those  housewives  now  wage-earners,  those  too 
old  or  sick  to  labor,  and  those  to  whom  a  year  should  be  given  for 
childbearing  and  nursing)  the  released  labor  of  four-fifths  of  the 
fifteen,  namely  twelve  miUion,  would  be  worth  $6,000,000,000  a 
year. 

Their  product  value  would  at  least  equal  their  wages,  another 
$6,000,000,000  a  year.  The  saving  in  cost  of  food  materials,  by 
eliminating  both  the  whole  retail  expense  and  the  inevitable  waste 
of  minute  rehandling  in  small  quantities,  would  be  fully  50  per  cent. 
If  the  average  American  family  now  spends  $500  a  year  on  food, 
and  if  the  saving  was  but  two-fifths,  or  $200,  there  would  be  another 
$4,000,000,000.  This  gives  a  pleasing  total  of  $16,000,000,000 
which  in  an  extreme  hypothetical  case  we  might  save  each^year, 


128  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

No  such  sudden  and  universal  change  of  system  is  to  be  ex- 
pected. It  would  not  be  desirable  instantly  to  eliminate  a  whole 
complex  business,  as  the  retail  food  trade.  These  large  estimates 
are  given  to  show  the  importance  of  the  food  problem,  and  the 
enormity  of  the  waste  involved  in  our  primitive  method  of  treat- 
ment. 

The  housekeeper  herself  should  realize  that  her  devotion  to 
duty  results  not  in  economy,  but  in  waste,  not  in  safeguarding  the 
health  of  the  family,  but  in  maintaining  a  system  of  feeding  people 
which  keeps  our  standard  of  health  low,  and  sees  it  going  lower. 
The  world's  gain  in  health  is  made  in  those  diseases  combated  by 
sanitary  legislation;  we  are  losing  in  what  may  be  called  "food 
diseases."  If  the  housekeeper  does  recognize  her  high  public  duty 
in  regard  to  the  food  problem,  what  can  she  do  to  meet  it?  And 
what  can  the  food  administration  do  to  help  her? 

As  we  have  experiment  stations  to  establish  standards  and 
gather  information  for  our  farmers,  so  we  should  now  establish  at 
least  one  national  food  laboratory,  an  experiment  station  for  the 
benefit  of  the  housekeeper.  Such  a  laboratory  should  be  in  charge 
of  men  and  women  of  the  highest  ability,  a  staff  capable  of  meeting 
all  demands  of  this  exacting  work,  for  the  preparation  of  food  for 
modern  humanity  is  by  no  means  the  simple  service  we  commonly 
consider  it,  but  is  an  art,  a  science,  a  business  and  a  handicraft. 
From  an  authoritative  center  like  this  should  be  distributed  accu- 
rate information  as  to  food  values  and  prices,  with  bulletins  for 
special  localities  and  seasons.  With  an  experienced  buyer,  with 
the  most  expert  handling  of  all  the  valuable  by-products  of  this 
great  industry,  now  so  wastefully  mishandled  as  "garbage,"  with 
storage  and  refrigeration  facilities,  with  such  arrangements  with 
dairymen  and  local  market  gardeners  as  would  be  easy  with  large 
and  steady  orders,  with  a  preserving  department  to  take  advantage 
of  surplus  materials,  and  with  all  accounts  carefully  kept  and  freely 
published,  we  should  at  last  be  in  a  position  to  know  what  really  is 
the  "cost  of  living." 

Figures  could  be  given  on  a  series  of  diet  lists,  all  equally  whole- 
some, but  varying  in  materials  and  in  prices.  The  best  and  fullest 
information  would  thus  be  available  to  the  housekeeper  unable  to 
change  her  industrial  position,  as  also  to  all  institutions  where 
cooking  is  done  on  a  larger  scale.    We  should  at  least  have  an  au- 


a  The  Housekeeper  and  the  Food  Problem  129 

thoritative  standard,  a  minimum  below  which  no  poorhouse  or 
prison  would  be  allowed  to  fall,  and  a  maximum  above  which  any- 
one should  be  ashamed  to  waste  money  on  eating.  From  such  a 
center  local  service  kitchens  could  be  established  as  fast  as  needed, 
with  intelligent  modification  as  to  race  or  religious  customs  and 
personal  preferences.  On  the  side  of  individual  initiative  the  same 
thing  may  be  done  far  and  wide;  but  at  least  in  the  beginning  the 
sanction  of  government  authority  and  the  reach  of  government 
power  would  be  of  great  advantage. 

Now,  if  anyone  asks,  "And  where  is  the  money  to  come  from 
to  do  all  this?"  the  answer  is  comfortingly  simple.  The  money 
will  come  from  the  pockets  of  those  who  buy  the  appetizing  products 
of  these  food  laboratories,  and  it  will  cost  them  less,  far  less  than 
it  does  now.  That  is  precisely  the  feature  of  the  food  problem  which 
is  here  emphasized,  that  our  present  method  is  not  economical  as 
popularly  supposed,  but  is  madly  expensive. 

Look  at  the  food  budget  of  one  hundred  families  who  keep 
cooks:  $30  a  month  for  each  cook,  $360  a  year  per  family,  $36,000 
for  the  group.  The  necessary  force  of  one  manager,  one  clerk,  six 
cooks  and  kitchen  men  and  two  delivery  men,  with  salaries  averag- 
ing two  thousand,  would  be  but  $20,000  a  year,  a  saving  of  $16,000. 
The  saving  in  coal  bill  or  gas  bill  for  kitchen  use  would  be  in  much 
greater  degree,  as  would  the  incidental  expenses  of  all  kinds.  The 
cost  of  the  food  itself,  now  perhaps  $30  a  week  for  the  family  of 
five  and  the  cook,  totaling  $156,000  a  year  for  the  hundred  families, 
could  be  cut  in  half  by  proper  wholesale  buying  and  the  economy 
of  scientific  handling  in  quantity.  If  the  saving  was  but  little  over 
a  third,  say,  the  $56,000,  that,  with  the  $16,000  saved  on  labor  and 
the  other  incidental  savings  in  fuel,  light,  utensils,  breakage,  etc., 
it  would  amount  to  some  $75,000  a  year.  If  the  hundred  families 
were  content  to  accept  a  saving  of  but  $500  a  year  each,  there  would 
remain  $25,000,  quite  sufficient  to  maintain  an  elaborate  kitchen 
and  two  delivery  motor  vehicles. 

A  hundred  families  willing  to  make  this  change  in  living  could 
pay  for  their  new  outfit,  motors,  food  containers  and  all  in  the  first 
year  and  after  that  find  their  labor  expense  reduced  from  $36  to 
$20  a  month,  their  food  expense  reduced  from  a  third  to  a  half, 
and  the  quality  of  that  living  improved. 

Beyond  this  direct  saving  in  money  we  have  the  far  larger 


130  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

items  of  the  released  labor,  its  earnings  for  the  family,  its  product 
for  the  nation.  And  all  this  gain  would  be  greater  in  proportion  to 
the  need  of  it,  the  relative  saving  to  our  poorest  more  than  that 
of  the  rich. 

Details  of  food  containers,  keeping  things  hot  and  cold  for 
hours,  should  present  no  difficulties  to  manufacturers  of  thermos 
bottles  and  fireless  cookers.  Such,  and  suitable  delivery  wagons, 
are  already  in  use  in  Europe. 

The  most  important  thing  is  the  establishment  of  authorita- 
tive food  laboratories  to  save  the  mistakes  and  discouragement  of 
scattered  efforts,  and  the  next  is  for  our  housekeepers  to  recognize 
the  imperative  duty  of  the  change  of  method  in  this  industry. 

Some  difficulty  will  be  experienced,  no  doubt,  from  the  objec- 
tions of  Mr.  Jones,  but  if  the  food  is  really  good  and  he  sees  himself 
much  richer  for  the  change,  he  will  be  convinced  in  time.  More 
immediately,  if  the  husband  and  father  has  gone  to  the  war,  the 
mother  at  home  will  be  both  relieved  in  labor  and  enriched  in  cash . 
And  one  generation  of  children,  accustomed  to  such  wiser  living, 
will  end  opposition  forever. 


THE  RELATION  OF  THE  HOUSEWIFE  TO  THE  FOOD     * 

PROBLEM 

By  Nevada  Davis  Hitchcock, 
Instructor  in  Marketing,  Temple  University,  Philadelphia. 

The  consumer  has  been  much  in  the  limelight  of  publicity  within 
the  past  few  years.  The  consuming  public  is  represented  so  far  as 
foods  are  concerned  by  the  housewife.  It  is,  therefore,  upon  the 
latter  that  the  searchhght  has  been  focused.  There  is  no  problem 
in  which  the  public  is  more  interested  than  that  of  food  and  I  may 
add,  no  problem  in  which  the  public  is  inclined  to  do  less  except  to 
give  advice.  At  any  rate  there  has  been  much  talk,  reams  of  writing 
and  millions  of  words.  These  have  been  cast  before  the  housewife 
in  numerous  forms,  offering  her  advice,  hurling  it  at  her,  rather, 
showering  her  with  remedies,  heralding  her  as  the  one  able  to  solve 
the  puzzle  of  how  to  reduce  the  cost  of  living,  assailing  her  as  false 
to  her  trust,  calling  her  attention  to  all  sorts  of  panaceas  warranted 


i 


The  Housewife  and  the  Food  Problem  131 

to  cure  all  the  ills  of  soaring  prices.  After  having  given  their  advice, 
these  advisors  have  washed  their  hands  of  responsibility  and  have 
gaily  gone  their  way.  They  have  told  the  housewife  what  to  do  to 
get  cheap  food.     It  becomes  her  responsibility  then. 

The  housewife,  equipped  with  such  weapons  as  "how  to  use 
left-overs"  and  a  market  basket,  has  about  as  much  chance  of  lower- 
ing the  high  cost  of  living  as  a  baby  armed  with  a  powder  puff  has  of 
frightening  a  burglar.  The  truth  of  the  matter  is  that  the  food  prob- 
lem has  reached  such  gigantic  proportions  that  under  our  present 
system  the  consumer  has  no  power  whatever  against  organized 
business.  The  produce  of  our  farms  passes  like  a  shuttle,  weaving 
in  and  out  of  numerous  threads  before  it  reaches  the  hands  of  the 
housewife.  Business  interests  in  our  cities  have  been  organized. 
We  have  wholesale  and  retail  associations  made  up  of  jobbers,  com- 
mission men  and  retail  grocers.  These  in  turn  are  connected  with 
railroad  interests,  manufacturers  and  financial  interests.  The 
individual  producer  is  at  one  end  of  the  line,  the  individual  consumer 
at  the  other.  They  both  have  to  dance  when  the  organized  interests 
pull  the  string.  The  conflict  between  the  housewife  and  high  prices 
does  not  even  approach  a  David  and  Goliath  conflict.  One  was 
brain  pitted  against  brawn,  but  the  other  is  only  an  individual  in- 
terest against  collective  brains  and  financial  brawn.  It  is  at  best 
but  a  pigmy  attempt. 

Every  bit  of  the  expense  connected  with  foods  has  to  be  borne 
by  the  consuming  public.  And,  as  affairs  are  conducted  at  present, 
the  housewife  is  helpless,  no  matter  how  much  she  may  wish  to  do  her 
part.  As  an  example  there  is  the  recent  attempt  to  lower  the  cost 
of  food  by  eliminating  the  delivery  system,  or  by  placing  it  on  a 
charge  basis.  Although  many  women  signified  their  willingness  to 
do  with  fewer  deliveries  and  to  pay  a  five-cent  charge  provided  the 
price  of  goods  were  lowered  in  consequence,  deliveries  were  cut  out 
entirely  or  were  made  at  te7i  cents  without  the  housewife  perceiving 
any  benefit  whatever  to  herself.  She  has  to  bear  heavy  burdens  and 
use  more  time  without  receiving  any  appreciable  benefit.  There 
has  been  an  abuse  of  the  delivery  but  the  housewife  has  been  the 
victim  rather  than  the  offender  because  free  delivery  at  all  hours  has 
been  held  out  to  her  as  a  bait  for  her  patronage.  It  is  neither  wise 
nor  just  to  attempt  to  punish  her  by  taking  away  delivery  service 
altogether,  or  by  charging  her  ten  cents  for  it.     It  requires  too  much 


132  The  Annai^s  of  the  American  Academy 

time  and  too  much  strength  when  the  housewife  attempts  to  carry 
all  her  food  home.  It  is  returning  to  the  dark  ages.  One  might 
as  well  go  back  to  candles  and  to  backyard  hydrants,  because  it 
would  reduce  light  and  water  costs. 

In  conserving  food  after  it  comes  into  her  hands  the  housewife 
can  do  a  great  deal.  That,  however,  is  but  one  phase  of  the  problem. . 
There  is  an  old  proverb  which  says  "First  catch  your  hare,  and  then 
cook  it."  This  is  most  applicable  to  the  situation.  We  have 
urged  women  to  can  and  to  dry  food,  but  no  effort  has  been  made  ex- 
cept in  sporadic  cases  to  get  food  before  them  that  they  can  afford  to 
buy  and  conserve. 

The  true  relation  of  the  housewife  to  the  food  problem  may 
best  be  understood  if  one  considers  her  actual  responsibility  and  her 
limitations.  This  responsibility  of  the  housewife  includes  three 
things:  wise  food  selection,  proper  preparation  and  adequate  con- 
servation. 

Her  Responsibility 

To  make  a  wise  selection  one  must  have  a  knowledge  of  food 
values,  based  upon  the  principles  of  nutrition.  There  must  be  the 
proper  grouping  of  foods,  so  that  all  the  necessary  elements  will  be 
given  in  the  right  proportion  each  day.  Then  one  must  have  a 
knowledge  of  markets,  of  food  prices  and  of  seasonal  foods,  in  order 
to  get  the  best  food  for  the  least  money. 

The  next  step  is  the  proper  preparation  in  order  that  food  will 
not  be  wasted  in  sink  and  garbage  pail.  The  housewife  also  must 
know  the  amount  of  heat  and  the  length  of  time  required  to  cook 
food.  Otherwise  there  is  great  possible  waste  in  food  preparation, 
.  for  many  times  nearly  a  third  of  the  nourishment  is  lost,  in  meat,  for 
instance,  by  overcooking. 

The  third  division  is  adequate  conservation.  The  housewife 
must  look  after  the  refrigeration,  must  see  that  foods  are  kept  at  as 
low  degree  of  temperature  as  possible.  One  phase  of  food  preserva- 
tion is  in  keeping  the  foods  covered  and  away  from  contact  with 
other  foods.  Then  there  is  th  -  science  of  using  left-overs,  i.  e. ,  in  com- 
bining remnants  of  food  so  that  nothing  will  be  wasted.  These  are 
the  essentials  of  the  responsibility  that  each  housewife  ought  to  bear 
toward  the  food  problem.  That  the  vast  majority  of  women  do  not 
know  how  to  do  all  these  things  perfectly  arouses  biting  sarcasm 
from  many  quarters.     But  if  one  will  stop  to  consider  the  limitations 


The  HousiEwiFE  and  the  Food  Problem  i33 

with  which  the  housewife  of  today  has  to  contend  ,  much  that  seems 
reprehensible  in  her  conduct  will  be  considered  excusable. 

Her  Limitations 

Just  why  the  housewife  cannot  rise  to  the  full  responsibility 
that  is  laid  upon  her  will  be  apparent  at  once  if  we  go  back  a  little 
while  and  study  what  her  preparation  has  been  to  carry  out  this 
responsibility. 

In  the  first  place  it  is  only  within  recent  years  that  any  of  us 
have  known  how  great  a  part  the  food  problem  plays  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  individual,  the  home  and  the  nation.  A  woman  who 
could  cook  a  delicious  dish,  serve  an  attractive  meal  and  give  to  her 
family  full  satisfaction  in  taste  and  quantity  was  considered  as  hav- 
ing done  her  duty.  But  with  the  advance  in  science  and  the  research 
work  that  is  carried  on,  a  new  phase  of  the  food  problem  arose.  The 
housewife  was  called  upon  to  conserve  the  health  of  the  family  as 
well  as  the  family  income.  In  other  words,  she  must  not  only  learn 
to  be  an  economical,  wise  cook,  but  she  also  must  be  an  economical, 
wise  buyer  of  foods.  Now  although  this  responsibility  has  been  laid 
upon  her  for  some  years  past,  very  little  has  been  done  to  help  her  to 
carry  that  responsibility  wisely  and  well. 

For  a  long  time  farmers  have  been  instructed  through  agricul- 
tural colleges,  experiment  stations,  farm  agents  and  the  public  press 
in  regard  to  the  necessity  of  knowing  how  to  feed  and  care  for  their 
livestock.  Numerous  pamphlets,  bulletins,  articles  and  books  were 
written  and  put  upon  the  market  so  that  any  farmer  that  wished  to 
do  so  might  be  able  to  know  how  to  care  for  his  flocks  and  herds. 
On  the  other  hand,  very  little  was  done  until  recent  years  to  give  the 
housewife  proper  instruction  in  regard  to  what  she  must  know  about 
foods  from  a  scientific  viewpoint.  Of  course,  we  have  had  in  our 
public  schools,  for  fifteen  or  twenty  years,  a  system  of  instruction  in 
domestic  science,  but  much  of  this  instruction  has  been  meager. 
By  this  I  mean  no  attack  upon  the  work  done  in  the  public  school  at 
all.  I  simply  wish  to  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  domestic  science 
and  home  economics  are  of  so  recent  development  that  the  practical 
application  has  not  been  worked  out  long  enough  to  enable  the 
average  housewife  to  have  had  that  instruction.  Cooking,  as  it 
is  taught  in  the  public  schools,  is  in  its  mere  infancy  so  far  as  the 
average  housewife  is  concerned,  and,  of  course,  in  private  schools 


r  ■ 


134  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

there  has  been  much  less  progress.  In  women's  clubs  and  charitable 
associations  some  attention  has  been  paid  to  the  subject,  but  no 
definite  program  has  been  carried  out  along  both  practical  and 
theoretical  lines. 

We  hear  "a  good  deal  about  what  has  been  done  by  women's  clubs 
in  regard  to  the  food  problem,  and  much  has  been  done,  but  it  is 
more  along  the  line  of  clean  foods  and  pure  foods  than  it  has  been 
in  regard  to  food  values,  food  preparation  and  food  conservation. 
The  fundamental  principles  of  economics,  upon  which  the  food 
problem  really  rests,  if  we  are  to  have  enough  food  to  feed  the  masses 
in  our  great  cities,  have  not  been  touched  upon  to  any  extent  either 
in  pubUc  or  private  schools,  or  in  women's  clubs  or  organizations. 
In  fact,  political  economists,  with  a  few  exceptions,  have  not  given 
this  subject  the  attention  it  deserves  and  the  attention  they  must 
necessarily  give  to  it  in  the  future  through  circumstances  that  have 
arisen  since  our  entrance  into  thiB  great  war. 

While  the  consumer  has  been  called  upon  and  has  responded  in 
many  cases  to  do  many  things,  no  attempt  at  protection  against  the 
dangerous  results  of  inefficient  transportation  and  distribution  and 
food  speculation  has  been  given  to  the  housewife  until  the  food  con- 
trol bill  was  passed  in  Congress  and  Mr.  Hoover  became  Food  Ad- 
ministrator of  the  United  States.  In  fact  the  great  majority  of. 
business  men  and  the  members  of  different  organizations  of  the 
public  in  general  do  not  yet  realize  the  impossibility  of  the  con- 
sumers' doing  anything  more  than  merely  offering  the  slight  re- 
sistance to  the  flood  of  the  cost  of  living  with  the  weapon  of  the 
market  basket  and  the  boycott. 

Take  the  question  of  the  boycott,  for  instance.  It  is  easy 
enough  to  say  to  women,  as  was  done  last  winter  in  New  York, 
"Do  not  buy  eggs.  Boycott  the  egg  and  bring  down  the  price." 
And  the  consumer,  willing  to  do  her  part,  followed  this  advice. 
What  is  the  result?  The  storage  houses  can  hold  eggs  until  they 
get  the  price  that  they  wish  at  very  little  extra  cost.  ,Xhe  poultry- 
man,  on  the  other  hand,  producing  eggs  in  the  winter  time  at  a 
high  cost  of  feed  and  with  much  hard  work,  loses  his  market  for 
eggs  on  account  of  the  boycott.  As  a  result  he  becomes  discouraged, 
reduces  his  flock,  and  sells  off  his  breeding  stock.  The  cold  storage 
dealer  sells  his  eggs  when  the  first  effects  of  the  boycott  have 
waned  at  the  price  he  would  have  received  if  there  had  been  no 


I 


The  Housewife  and  the  Food  Problem  135 


boycott,  and  loses  practically  nothing.  The  consumer  has  done 
without  eggs  and  has  perhaps  lowered  the  cost  of 'eggs  two  or  three 
cents  a  dozen  for  a  short  time  without  stopping  to  reflect  that  by 
cutting  out  the  market  for  the  poultryman  she  has  made  it  impos- 
sible for  him  to  keep  on  with  his  usual  number  of  hens,  and  so  for 
that  reason  the  next  year  there  will  be  fewer  eggs  and  higher  prices. 
There  was  a  time  perhaps  when  the  boycott  could  have  been  used 
without  having  any  particular  effect  upon  the  market,  but  now  it 
becomes  a  dangerous  instrument  in  the  hands  of  those  who  do  not 
understand  the  economic  principles  that  underlie  production, 
transportation  and  distribution. 

Consumers  have  been  urged  to  take  their  market  baskets,  go 
out  and  buy  their  food  and  carry  it  home.  The  market  basket  is  a 
splendid  thing  which  ought  to  be  carried  oftener  than  it  is;  women 
ought  to  be  urged  to  go  to  market  and  select  their  food,  but  not 
without  proper  protection  against  food  speculation  and  inefficient 
transportation  and  distribution.  ^If  the  municipalities  and  the 
state  do  not  make  it  possible  for  food  to  be  brought  into  the  city 
without  waste  and  without  rehandling,  if  there  is  no  efficient  system 
of  distribution  by  which  this  food  is  carried  directly  to  different 
parts  of  the  city  and  distributed  under  regulations  which  cut  out 
food  speculation  and  combination  in  food  prices,  the  market  basket 
will  have  no  effect  at  all  in  reducing  the  cost  of  living. 

Not  a  Free  Agent 

The  housewife  cannot  always  exercise  her  own  judgment  in 
regard  to  food  for  her  family.  There  are  limitations.  In  the  first 
place,  the  individual  taste  of  the  family  must  be  considered.  We 
have  not  yet  arrived  at  the  condition  of  societj^  when  one  can  pre- 
scribe a  certain  kind  of  food  for  all  individuals.  In  fact  food  that 
is  not  relished  very  often  does  not  give  the  proper  nourishment. 
Of  course  I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  much  cannot  be  done  by  the 
house-mother  in  directing  and  guiding  the  tastes  of  her  family. 
Much  can  be  done,  but  only  to  a  certain  degree.  She  is  bound  to 
consider  what  her  family  likes  if  she  wishes  to  make  her  house  a  home 
and  not  merely  a,  place  where  food  that  will  support  life  is  given  out. 
We  all  know  that  beans  have  just  about  as  much  protein  as  meat, 
and  yet  if  your  family  will  not  eat-beans,  what  are  you  going  to  do? 
Or  if  your  family  refuses  to  eat  beans  oftener  than  once  a  week. 


I 


136  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

what  solution  of  the  problem  can  you  offer?  One  cannot  use  force; 
the  house-mother  of  today  cannot  go  around  with  a  bean  pot  in 
one  hand  and  a  club  in  the  other. 

Then  in  addition  to  that  is  the  effect  of  food  on  the  individual, 
which  is  something  that  must  be  considered  as  well  as  the  taste. 
For  instance,  there  are  food  idiosyncrasies,  and  these  are  more  com- 
mon than  one  would  suppose.  There  are  a  number  of  individuals 
who  cannot  eat  eggs  without  becoming  bilious.  Those  who  have 
rheumatic  tendencies  cannot  eat  tomatoes,  grape  fruit,  lemons, 
strawberries  and  rhubarb.  Milk  does  not  agree  with  some  indi- 
viduals.    Others  are  poisoned  by  fish. 

The  consumer  also  must  have  the  cooperation  of  the  family. 
Even  where  members  of  the  family  are  able  to  eat  everything,  unless 
the  family  will  eat  everything,  the  consumer  is  much  hampered  in 
providing  a  well-balanced  ration  for  her  family  at  a  reasonable 
cost.  The  head  of  the  family  himself  often  is  the  stumbling  block. 
A  man  who  earns  three  or  four  dollars  a  day  at  hard  work  naturally 
demands  that  his  wife  give  him  what  he  calls  "good  meals."  Hav- 
ing earned  his  bread  by  the  sweat  of  his  brow  he  thinks  he  has  a 
right  to  choose  the  kind  of  bread  he  wants  to  eat,  and  having  the 
balance  of  power,  the  pocketbook,  he  makes  his  wishes  rule  the 
house.  The  professional  and  business  man  very  often  follows  the 
same  habit  and  demands  that  certain  kinds  of  food  be  served,  and 
so  the  housewife  has  to  buy  that  which  is  demanded,  and  by  thus 
buying,  is  not  a  free  agent  in  selecting  foods.  She  is  obUged  often 
to  buy  food  at  what  she  considers  an  exhorbitant  price  which  she 
would  not  touch  if  she  were  at  liberty  to  do  as  she  pleased.  Very 
often  men  who  complain  of  household  bills  will  not  agree  to  do  with- 
out the  things  that  make  those  prices  exorbitant. 

As  a  result,  few  women  have  had  the  vital  interest  in  the  food 
•problem  that  they  should  have  until  the  present  situation  in  regard 
to  food  conservation  has  arisen.  One  of  the  blessings  that  may 
come  from  this  great  war  evil  is  that  a  widespread  interest  in  foods 
has  been  aroused.  Up  to  this  time  few  club  women  have  been 
enthusiastic  in  regard  to  the  subject.  Those  who  have  worked 
along  these  lines  foreseeing  the  vision  of  the  present  situation,  felt 
discouraged  many  times  owing  to  the  lack  of  interest  among  their 
sisters.  Most  clubs  have  had  some  program  in  regard  to  foods  and 
home  economics,  as  I  have  said,  but  very  few  clubs  have  taken  up 


I 


I 


The  Housewife  and  the  Food  Problem  137 

the  matter  with  the  same  enthusiasm  as  they  have  had  in  getting 
playgrounds,  recreation  centers,  proper  legislation,  public  health 
and  sanitation,  political  equality  and  civic  improvements.  Music, 
literature  and  art  have  all  taken  precedence  of  this  vital  topic.  A 
musicale,  an  art  exhibition,  or  a  social  tea  would  draw  crowds  when 
a  food  demonstration  would  call  out  handfuls.  Even  at  the  out- 
break of  the  war,  the  Red  Cross,  the  Emergency  Aid  and  the  Army 
and  Navy  League  were  organized  and  doing  effective  work  before 
the  food  problem  had  been  touched.  It  is  only  with  the  entrance 
of  the  government  into  food  conservation  and  the  appeal  to  the 
women  of  America  to  do  their  patriotic  duty  that  the  foods  have 
received  anything  near  their  proper  attention  from  the  majority 
of  women. 

A  great  deal  needs  to  be  done  for  the  housewife  if  she  is  to  fulfill 
her  duty.     It  is  time  to  see  that  she  has  the  right  kind  of  markets. 

She  also  should  have  full  opportunity  for  practical  instruction 
in  home  economics.  I  do  not  forget  the  work  that  is  being  done 
along  that  line  by  the  Department  of  Agriculture  at  Washington, 
as  well  as  by  the  extension  work  in  our  state  colleges.  Through 
these  agencies  valuable  literature  has  been  sent  out  and  useful  cook- 
ing and  canning  demonstrations  have  been  held.  But  they  have 
been  of  more  value  in  the  country  districts  than  in  our  great  cities 
because  they  have  not  been  developed  along  lines  that  will  reach  the 
women  of  the  city.  A  definite  and  concerted  action  should  be 
taken  at  once  to  get  proper  instruction  which  will  make  it  possible 
for  women  everywhere  to  have  the  necessary  information.  This 
is  most  important  because  just  now  there  is  great  danger  that  the 
American  woman  in  her  endeavor  to  save  food  for  patriotic  reasons 
will  become  hysterical  in  her  efforts.  Unless  she  knows  which  foods 
are  growth  promoting  and  energy  giving,  she  will  make  food  selec- 
tions that  will  injure  the  health  of  her  family.  Clubs  and  associa- 
tions of  all  kinds  should  take  up  a  definite  program  for  giving 
housewives  an  opportunity  to  know  these  things  and  their  relation 
to  the  welfare  of  the  family. 

A  simple  practical  course  in  homemaking  should  be  taught  in 
the  grades  of  our  public  schools.  Food  values  and  food  groupings 
should  be  concretely  illustrated  by  having  models  of  meals  that 
embody  them.  Artificial  groups  of  foods  might  be  a  part  of  the 
equipment  of  schools  just  as  much  as  blackboards  are.     Practical 


138  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

instruction  in  food  selection  and  preparation  ought  to  be  carried 
through  the  grades  so  that  by  the  time  the  girls  finish  the  eighth 
grade  they  will  know  how  to  buy  the  right  kind  of  food  at  the  best 
possible  price.  They  also  will  know  how  to  cook  the  food  and  serve 
it  appetizingly.  They  will  be  able  to  select  foods  on  a  calorie  basis 
and  be  as  familiar  with  proteins,  carbohydrates  and  vitamines,  as 
the  housewife  of  today  is  with  soda  and  baking  powder. 

The  crux  of  the  situation  in  regard  to  the  cost  of  foods  rests 
upon  abundant  production,  proper  transportation  and  efficient 
distribution.  This  year  has  proven  what  can  be  done  in  the  way  of 
increasing  production,  but  so  far  the  consumer  has  not  reaped  the 
full  advantage  of  the  abundant  crops  because  the  transportation 
and  distribution  of  foods  are  still  in  an  antiquated  form.  The 
consumer  should  be  directly  interested  in  improving  these  condi- 
tions because  the  prices  of  foods  in  the  future  will  depend  largely 
upon  their  proper  distribution  now.  The  producer  must  get  a  fair 
return  for  his  labor  and  investment.  The  consumer  should  get  food 
at  reasonable  prices  without  paying  toll  to  five  or  six  middlemen. 
Right  here  is  the  need  for  economic  study  of  foods.  It  is  the  duty 
of  each  city  and  state  to  stop  dilly-dallying  and  do  something. 
Terminal  markets  should  be  established  in  connection  with  regional 
markets  that  food  may  be  distributed  quickly  and  effectively  to 
every  part  of  the  city,  eliminating  the  present  glut  at  one  part  and 
scarcity  at  the  other. 

A  word  about  curb  markets.  There  is  much  talk  of  curb 
markets  as  a  solution.  The  time  has  gone  by  when  we  can  expect 
or  demand  the  producer  to  be  distributor  and  retailer  on  the  street. 
The  nearby  truck  farmer  may  find  it  profitable  to  come  into  the 
city  and  sell  his  produce  on  its  streets,  but  the  student  of  economic 
principles  questions  whether  it  would  not  be  better  for  the  farmer- 
to  specialize  in  farming  and  leave  the  retailing  and  distributing  in 
other  hands.  Cooperative  societies  are  already  being  formed 
among  the  farmers  which  promise  success.  The  next  logical  step 
would  be  to  organize  cooperative  societies  in  the  city  which  would 
be  distributing  agencies  for  the  cooperative  societies  in  the  country. 
There  would  be  a  reciprocal  relation  which  would  be  highly  advan- 
tageous to  both. 

The  problem  of  getting  enough  food  to  feed  the  family  is  most 
serious  in  the  eyes  of  housewives  all  over  the  United  States.    There 


I 


I 


The  Housewife  and  the  Food  Problem  139 

is  consternation  in  the  minds  of  housewives  as  they  look  forward  to 
the  winter  months.  Women  have  responded  nobly  to  the  call  to 
help  produce  and  conserve  food.  Our  abundant  harvests  and  stores 
of  canned  and  dried  foods  prove  that.  Women  are  doing  their  part 
in  food  economy  so  that  there  may  be  no  waste  in  garbage  pails. 
But  that  has  had  no  appreciable  effect  in  lowering  prices  except  for 
a  few  vegetables.  The  one  thing  that  prevents  utter  discourage- 
ment is  that  the  President  of  the  United  States  has  been  enabled 
to  appoint  a  food  administrator  with  full  power.  It  is  to  Mr.  Hoover, 
as  representative  of  the  federal  government,  that  the  housewives  are 
looking  for  relief.  They  turn  to  him  for  protection  against  food 
speculators  by  making  it  a  crime  that  ranks  with  treason  for  any 
individual  or  corporation  to  hoard  or  manipulate  foods  so  that  they 
are  sold  at  exorbitant  prices.  They  look  to  Mr.  Hoover  to  see  that 
food  prices  are  based  upon  actual  cost  of  production  and  distribu- 
tion, including  all  return  to  labor  and  capital,  but  with  no  excess 
wartime  profit.  They  look  to  Mr.  Hoover  to  make  an  example  of 
such  men  as  those  who  have  dumped  loaves  of  bread  upon  vacant 
lots  and  have  set  fire  to  the  bread — bread  which  thousands  of 
women  are  doing  their  best  to  save.  The  consumer  also  looks  to 
each  state  and  city  to  do  its  part  in  helping  to  solve  the  food  problem. 

The  development  of  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Markets  is 
proving  of  great  value  from  an  educational  and  publicity  viewpoint. 
Some  states  have  also  formed  market  bureaus  which  have  given  an 
opportunity  to  do  good  work.  The  trouble  is  that  in  too  many 
cases  these  bureaus  have  no  "teeth"  to  make  their  influence  felt. 
The  consumer  needs  a  bureau  of  foods  and  markets  with  power  in 
each  city  to  which  she  can  appeal.  This  bureau  should  be  place  d 
on  the  same  footing  as  the  bureau  of  public  health,  public  safety 
and  public  utilities.  There  should  be  some  local  court  of  appeal  to 
which  the  consumer  can  address  his  complaints  when  situations, 
like  the  one  existing  at  present,  arise.  For  instance  women  are 
clamoring  to  know  why  they  have  to  pay  20  cents  a  quarter  peck 
in  West  Philadelphia,  or  at  the  rate  of  $3.20  a  bushel,  for  tomatoes 
when  the  crop  is  so  abundant  that  the  government  is  calling  upon 
women  to  volunteer  for  work  in  canning  factories  to  save  it. 

As  a  consumer,  and  representing  other  women  interested  in 
the  food  problem,  I  am  most  earnestly  asking  for  the  assistance  of 
all  in  heeding  the  appeal  and  standing  with  the  housewife;  in  urging 


f 


l40  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

upon  cities  the  immediate  need  of  establishing  terminal  markets 
connected  with  regional  markets;  in  developing  trolley  freight, 
motor  truck  and  parcel  post  deliveries  so  that  nearby  products  may 
be  brought  in  cheaply;  in  forming  cooperative  associations;  in 
urging  educational  development  in  practical  home  economics  in  the 
grades  of  our  public  schools;  in  demanding  that  all  city  nurses  and 
social  workers  be  required  to  have  training  in  home  economics 
before  they  are  ready  to  go  to  work,  and  in  this  way  may  help  to 
eliminate  some  racial  prejudices  through  health  centers  and  social 
centers. 

The  food  problem  has  become  not  only  the  problem  of  the  con- 
sumer represented  by  the  housewife  but  is  the  problem  of  men  and 
women  in  all  walks  of  life.  Only  by  their  cooperation  can  there  be 
any  stable  solution. 


FOOD   CONSERVATION   IN   NEW  YORK   CITY 
By  Lucius  P.  Brown, 

Director,  Bureau  of  Food  and  Drugs,  Department  of  Health,  New  York  City. 

In  telUng  what  has  been  done  in  the  city  of  New  York  for 
conservation,  it  is  necessary  to  tell  you  that  the  Food  and  Drugs 
Bureau  of  the  Department  of  Health  has  a  force  of  some  ninety 
inspectors  within  the  city.  This  force  is  divided  into  two  broad 
divisions  as  far  as  the  work  is  concerned.  One  of  these  divisions 
works  with  the  retailer  in  maintaining  a  sanitary  condition  of  the 
stores  and  the  quality  of  the  food  sold  by  the  grocer,  restaurant 
people  and  delicatessen  man  and  allied  callings.  The  other  division 
of  the  force  looks  after  the  food  in  a  wholesale  way  and  for  this  pur- 
pose is  divided  not  along  geographic  but  along  functional  lines. 

One  squad  from  the  latter  force  meets  the  city's  food  as  it  enters 
the  city  and  halts  there  all  unsound  material,  forcing,  when  any 
consignment  of  food  is  found  to  contain  both  sound  and  unsound 
material,  the  separation  of  the  sound  from  the  unsound  portions. 
It  has  been  found  by  experience  that  one  of  the  most  effective 
ways  of  using  food  materials  which  are  in  part  unsound  or  in  which 
the  unsoundness  has  not  proceeded  to  its  ultimate  term  of  decay  is  to 
subject  it  to  that  form  of  camouflage  which  is  so  readily  offered  by 


I 


Food  Conservation  in  New  York  City  141 

making  it  into  preserved  material.  This  is  of  course  particularly 
true  of  fruits,  which  can  be  made  into  preserves,  jams  and  jellies. 
Consequently  another  squad  has  been  formed  which  has  for  its 
function  the  inspection  of  food  factories  of  all  sorts.  This  squad 
Hkewise  looks  after  goods  which  are  stored  in  dry  and  cold  storage 
warehouses.  The  district  men  are  able  to  point  out  those  forms  of 
spoilage  which  occur  as  the  result  of  retail  conditions.  Through  all 
these  sources  of  information  we  are  able  pretty  thoroughly  to 
identify  causes  of  spoilage  due  to  transportation  and  distribution 
defects  or  conditions  and  to  form  an  excellent  idea  as  to  what 
causes  of  spoilage,  due  to  conditions  existing  on  the  farm,  are  readily 
preventable.  The  information  thus  collected  has  enabled  preparation 
of  a  somewhat  systematic  analysis  of  the  causes  for  spoilage  which 
it  seems  worth  while  to  reproduce  here. 

Speaking  broadly,  the  efforts  of  the  New  York  Health  Depart- 
ment have  been  directed  towards  correcting  such  of  these  conditions 
as  occur  within  the  city,  to  ascertaining  what  the  reasons  for  these 
conditions  were  when  they  have  occurred  without  the  city,  and 
notifying  persons  responsible  for  such  decay-producing  conditions 
to  the  end  that  they  might  be  minimized  in  future;  and  when  foods 
have  actually  arrived  in  the  city  in  lots,  parts  of  which  have  been 
decayed,  to  procuring  a  use  for  them  through  the  separation  of  the 
unsound  portions. 

The  city's  laws  provide  for  the  destruction  of  unsound  food- 
stuffs and  the  unpleasant  necessity  of  such  destruction,  if  we  are  to 
do  our  duty,  has  in  these  days  of  high  foodstuffs,  greatly  impressed 
every  member  of  our  force  with  the  necessity  of  promoting  all  pos- 
sible conservation. 

It  has  been  estimated  that  the  city  of  New  York  consumes  in 
the  neighborhood  of  five  biUions  of  pounds  of  food  per  annum,  which 
is  consumed  by  about  five  millions  of  people.  A  very  large  portion 
of  the  food  for  the  whole  metropolitan  district  of  some  seven  million 
people  passes  under  the  eye  of  New  York  City's  Health  Department, 
while  New  York  is  the -entrepot  for  a  very  large  portion  of  the  whole 
northeastern  part  of  the  United  States.  During  the  winter  and 
spring  of  the  current  year,  the  condemnations  of  foodstuffs  were  at 
the  rate  of  about  24,000,000  pounds  per  annum,  which  is  about 
five-tenths  of  1.  per  cent  of  the  total  food  supply.  Nine-tenths  of 
this  amount  were  perishables,  that  is  to  say  fruits  and  vegetables, 
which,  of  course,  form  less  than  20  per  cent  of  the  average  dietary, 


142 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


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144  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

Most  of  this  material  is  absolutely  unfit  for  any  use.  Considering 
the  large  territory  served  by  New  York  City,  the  amount  of  food 
which  it  has  been  necessary  to  send  to  the  dump  is  surprisingly 
small. 

The  form  of  effort  in  conservation  which  appears  to  offer  the 
most  promising  results  is  that  which  is  expressed  in  letters  to  shippers, 
transportation  lines,  etc.  Thus,  a  Japanese  gentleman  in  California 
was  on  September  12  notified  that  five  crates  of  black  figs  shipped 
by  him  had  become  unsound  because  they  were  packed  in  flat  crates 
instead  of  the  regular  fig  carriers.  A  gentleman  in  Kentucky  was 
notified  that  10  per  cent  of  a  shipment  of  broilers  had  become  un- 
sound because  this  poultry  was  not  properly  cooled  out  before 
packing.  A  farms-company  in  Florida  was  notified  that  206 
barrels  of  potatoes  which  were  50  per  cent  unsound  had  not  been 
overhauled  by  the  consignee,  as  should  have  been  the  case,  and  that 
the  cause  of  damage  was  the  packing  of  same  while  wet  in  double- 
headed  barrels.  The  response  to  such  letters  is  usually  most  satis- 
factory and  prompt  and  they  have  been  productive  of  much  benefit. 

When  goods  have  arrived  in  consignments  partially  unsound, 
the  aim  of  the  department  has  been  to  procure  a  use  for  them  if 
possible.  Many  consignments  have  been  sent  to  the  charitable 
institutions  under  city  management.  More  important  have  been 
the  efforts  of  a  group  of  women  who  have  taken  from  the  railroad 
company  partially  spoiled  shipments  abandoned  by  the  consignee, 
have  separated  sound  from  unsound  portions  by  means  of  cheap  or 
volunteer  labor,  have  sold  such  portion  as  there  was  immediate 
sale  for  and  have  canned  or  otherwise  preserved  the  remainder.  It 
is  obvious  that  such  a  group  may  be  very  busy  without  making  much 
impression  on  the  total  food  supply  but  their  labors  have  an  excellent 
moral  effect  and  they  do  succeed  in  saving  a  certain  amount.  In 
all  this  work  we  have  had  most  hearty  cooperation  from  the  dealers 
in  foodstuffs  within  the  city,  and  I  want  to  take  this  occasion  to  say 
that  1  have  found  quite  as  high  an  average  of  integrity,  ability  and 
patriotism  in  this  group  as  in  any  other  group  of  equal  size. 

In  addition  to  these  methods  of  conservation,  we  find  it  profit- 
able to  collect  certain  statistics.  Working  together  with  the 
Bureau  of  Markets,  United  States  Department  of  Agriculture,  we 
are  able  to  pretty  thoroughly  cover  daily  receipts  of  foods.  The 
value  of  an  accurate  knowledge  of  this  supply  is  evident.     We  like- 


Food  Conservation  in  New  York  City  145 

wise  collect  daily  prices,  wholesale  and  retail.  The  markets  squad 
first  mentioned  turns  into  the  head  office  by  telephone  early  every 
morning  the  figures  at  which  actual  sales  have  been  made  at 
receiving  points  during  the  morning.  In  addition  to  this  certain 
district  men  telephone  to  the  office  retail  prices  during  the  morn- 
ing and  by  ten  o'clock  these  are  compiled  and  ready  for  use  in  the 
afternoon  papers. 

It  is  obvious  that  if  the  papers  will  print  these  figures,  the  dis- 
criminating and  careful  housewife  will  be  able  by  a  study  of  them 
to  buy  much  more  effectively.  But  unfortunately  the  average 
housewife  does  not  appear  to  have  time  to  give  to  such  study,  and 
a  system  is  now  being  tested  by  which  it  is  thought  that  such  news 
can  be  put  into  attractive  form,  readily  available  to  even  the  most 
inexperienced  woman.  Such  should  be  the  aim  of  other  cities  de- 
siring to  inaugurate  a  similar  service.  In  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  a 
somewhat  better  plan  than  in  New  York  has  been  adopted,  but  even 
this  plan  does  not  appear  to  thoroughly  fit  the  case. 

It  has  been  most  interesting,  in  watching  the  retail  prices  as 
shown  up  by  this  inquiry  during  the  past  four  months,  to  note  how 
they  differ  in  different  sections  of  the  city.  The  causes  for  this  are 
not  far  to  seek.  One  of  the  chief  things  is  the  difference  in  service 
demanded,  another  is  the  differing  overhead  charges,  while  still  a 
third  is  dependent  on  the  demands  in  living  of  the  merchants  them- 
selves, which  are  again  dependent  in  large  part  on  the  section  of  the 
city  in  which  the  merchant  lives.  The  pushcart  man,  of  whom  there 
are  some  twelve  or  fifteen  thousand  in  the  city  of  New  York,  is  ' 
naturally  an  important  agency  of  retail  distribution  and  is  a  great 
stabilizer  of  prices.  He  is  satisfied  with  a  very  small  profit  and, 
because  of  this  small  margin,  is  able  to  make  a  quick  turnover.  He 
hires  his  cart  from  one  of  some  150  so-called  pushcart  stables  for  a 
small  sum  per  day  and  ventures  forth  upon  the  streets  more  or 
less  like  the  old-time  trader  who  carried  his  argosy  to  distant 
lands.  The  pushcart  man  may  be  a  merchant  of  food  today,  of 
hardware  tomorrow  and  of  clothing  the  third  day. 

Looking  now  to  next  year,  I  want  to  make  the  suggestion  that 
because  of  the  demand  for  shipping  in  the  Atlantic,  the  growers  of 
perishables  in  southwestern  Europe  and  in  the  Western  Islands  are 
largely  cut  off  from  their  ante-bellum  European  markets.  This  will 
force  them  to  seek  sale  for  their  products  in  the  United  States. 


I 


J46  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

Because  of  the  difficulties  of  shipping  such  perishables  under  war 
time  conditions,  a  large  proportion  of  such  shipments  will  unques- 
tionably arrive  in  poor  condition,  so  that  they  will  not  return  com- 
mercially the  cost  of  salvage  and  the  duty.  Whole  shiploads  are 
sometimes  affected  in  this  way.  It  is  desirable  that  some  arrange- 
ment be  made  with  the  Treasury  Department  by  which,  after  the 
consignee  has  abandoned  such  shipments,  they  may  be  salvaged  by 
volunteer  labor  and  the  duty  on  the  salvaged  portion  remitted. 
The  remainder  will,  of  course,  be  destroyed.  This  is  a  matter  which 
will  be  of  importance  to  the  whole  Atlantic  seaboard  and  should  be 
looked  after  at  once. 

Finally,  it  seems  to  me  that  there  cannot  be  too  great  a  devel- 
opment of  the  process  of  dehydration  of  vegetables.  The  great 
desiderata,  aside  from  the  obvious  keeping  down  of  cost,  are  quality 
of  product  and  the  finding  of  an  outlet  for  it.  The  two  are  neces- 
sarily intimately  connected.  Most  of  the  material  at  present  on 
the  market  is  not  of  a  sort  to  commend  itself  to  a  prospective  new 
consumer.  It  is  noteworthy  that  heretofore,  except  in  Germany, 
there  has  been  no  sale  for  such  products  except  in  war  time,  save 
in  very  limited  amounts  to  camps  or  industrial  or  mining  oper- 
ations in  sections  remote  from  agricultural  areas,  carriage  to  which 
would  be  prohibitive  on  the  fresh  products.  It  is  necessary  that 
the  dehydrated  products  when  cooked  should  be  little,  or  not  at  all, 
changed  in  taste  and  appearance  from  the  fresh  product.  The 
obtaining  of  material  of  the  required  quality  is  entirely  possible. 
During  this  winter  all  possible  effort  should  be  placed  on  the  loca- 
tion of  cheap  and  effective  dryers  in  sections  furnishing  sufficient 
supphes  of  the  raw  material. 


Food  Production  and  Conservation  147 

ACCOMPLISHMENTS  OF  BOYS'  AND  GIRLS'  CLUBS  IN 
FOOD   PRODUCTION  AND  CONSERVATION 

By  O.  H.  Benson, 
United  States  Department  of  Agriculture,  Washington,  D.  C. 

I  am  glad  to  assure  you  of  the  interest  and  cooperation  of 
Secretary  Houston  and  his  food  army  in  this  food  convention  and 
in  its  dehberations.  We  count  it  a  great  privilege  to  present  for 
your  consideration  the  problem  of  our  boys  and  girls  in  this  world 
program  of  food  production  and  food  conservation  as  related  to  the 
world  war  and  the  welfare  of  nations.  The  present  international 
crisis  is  rapidly  bringing  us  to  a  more  complete  realization  of  our 
world  citizenship  and  the  common  brotherhood  of  man. 

Boys  and  girls  have  always  played  a  serious  and  important  part 
in  the  great  problems  of  war  and  peace.  The  present  crisis  will 
furnish  to  our  junior  citizens  great  opportunities  for  manly 
and  womanly  service  of  all  lands.  President  Wilson  has  called 
them  as  definitely  into  his  army  as  he  has  the  men  who  wear  the 
official  naval  and  military  uniforms.  Uncle  Sam's  food  army  now 
numbers  over  two  million  boys  and  girls  who  have  enlisted  for  full 
patriotic  service  during  the  war  and  who  have  added  to  their  oath 
of  allegiance  to  the  flag  the  following  consecration  pledge: 

"I  consecrate  my  head,  heart,  hands  and  health,  through  food 
production  and  food  conservation,  to  help  win  the  world  war  and 
world  peace." 

This  pledge  is  just  another  patriotic  expression  of  the  meaning 
of  the  Boys'  and  Girls'  Club  emblem  known  as  the  4-H  emblem. 
Its  peace  time  meaning  is  "The  Equal  Training  of  Head,  Heart, 
Hands  and  Health  in  all  Farm  and  Home  Activities." 

The  splendid  armies  of  boy  scouts,  girl  scouts  and  camp  fire  girls 
have  also  enlisted  under  the  banner  of  food  production  and  food 
■  conservation,  and  are  diligently  working  out  their  slogans  of  feeding 
soldiers  and  saving  for  the  greater  need  of  our  nation.  I  invite 
your  interest  and  cooperation  in  the  program  of  enlisting  more  of 
the  23,000,000  children  of  school  age  in  this  food  army;  then,  after 
the  boys  and  girls  have  volunteered,  let  us  see  that  organization, 
.  encouragement  and  leadership  be  given  to  this  division  as  is  given 


148  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

to  the  war  and  navy  part  of  President  Wilson's  army.  Did  you 
ever  stop  to  think  of  how  great  might  be  the  results  of  boys'  and 
girls'  work  in  food  lines,  if  their  work  could  be  as  well  supported 
and  directed  as  are  the  soldiers  of  a  nation? 

Last  year,  1916,  it  cost  the  federal  government,  states  and  local 
people  79  cents  per  capita  to  supervise,  direct,  instruct  and  encour- 
age the  boys  and  girls  in  food  production  work.  As  a  result  they 
produced  an  average  of  $20.96  worth  of  food  for  the  nation,  thus 
making  S20.17  net  profit  on  the  investment,  a  piece  of  work  which 
was  the  result  of  encouragement  and  proper  direction  throughout 
the  year.  Of  course,  we  all  understand  that  this  economic  measure- 
ment is  by  far  the  lowest  value  we  can  place  on  the  work  when  we 
compare  with  it  the  vocational  guidance  and  training  for  the  future 
and  the  many  other  social  and  educational  advantages. 

Our  boys  and  girls,  in  addition  to  producing  "food  bullets"  to 
help  fight  the  central  powers,  have  organized  to  wage  a  relentless  and 
effective  war  against  all  abnormal  prices  on  necessities  of  life,  against 
starvation,  weeds,  insect  pests  and  disease  germs  of  every  type. 

The  following  report  taken  from  1916  statistics  will  show  the 
estimated  annual  loss  to  the  nation  due  to  common  enemies  of  both 
plant  and  animal  hfe: 

Some  Enemies  of  America 

Estimated  total  losses  due  to  all  animal  diseases $212,000,000 

Estimated  loss  of  cattle  mostly  due  to  diseases 177,750,000 

Estimated  loss  of  cattle  due  to  blackleg 27,551,000 

Estimated  loss  of  sheep  due  to  various  diseases 21,184,000 

Estimated  loss  due  to  hog  cholera 32,502,000 

Estimated  loss  of  farm  crops,  due  to  insect  pests 700,000,000 

Loss  due  to  weeds 300,000,000 

Direct  Enemies  to  Human  Life 
Estimated  Anniial  Loss 

From  tuberculosis 80,000 

From  preventable  colds 55,000 

From  intestinal  diseases 60,000 

From  pneumonia 50,000 

From  typhoid 16,000 

The  above  report  challenges  serious  thought  and  vigorous  action  on 
the  part  of  every  member  of  our  junior  citizenship. 

Look  up  the  records  of  the  Civil  War  or  of  all  other  wars  fought' 


i 


r 


Food  Production  and  Conservation  149 


in  this  or  any  other  country  and  you  will  find  that  boys  have  not 
only  been  at  home  to  take  father's  and  brothers'  place  on  farms, 
in  factories  and  industries  but  have  gone  to  fight  the  nation's  battles 
on  the  very  firing  line  and  have  done  their  job  along  with  the  men 
in  a  big  way.  The  Union  army  during  the  Civil  War  had  over 
4,051,500  boys,  ranging  in  age  from  ten  to  twenty-one  years,  over 
half  of  these  under  eighteen  who  offered  and  gave  their  fives  in  the 
service  of  the  nation  directly  to  fight  with  gun  and  other  devices  of 
warfare.  We  may  safely  assume  that  the  Confederate  army  had 
even  a  greater  number  of  boys.  It  is  estimated  that  over  eight  mil- 
lion boys  under  twenty-one  years  of  age  fought  in  the  Civil  War 
in  the  two  contending  armies. 

If  we  knew  the  records  today  of  the  European  nations  who  are 
now  at  war,  we  would  be  alarmed  at  the  fact  that  a  large  percentage 
of  those  now  fighting  and  who  have  been  fighting  are  mere  children 
under  eighteen  years  of  age.  The  following  table  will  furnish  some 
interesting  studies  in  connection  with  the  children  in  service  during 
the  Civil  War: 

Boys  Members  of  the  Army  of  the  North  During  the  Civil  War  Period 

Age  (years)  Number 

10  *  25 

11  38 

12  235 

13  300 
14-15                                                                               105,000 

16  126,000 

17  613,000 

18  307,000 
18-21  1,900,000 


Total  10-21  4,051,598 

We  were  all  pleased  with  President  Wilson's  famous  message 
at  the  opening  of  the  war  with  Germany  in  which  he  stated  so  defi- 
nitely that  two  types  of  soldiers  were  needed;  one  on  the  battlefield 
and  in  the  trenches,  and  the  other  in  the  field  of  food  production 
and  food  conservation.  In  these,  his  famous  sentences,  farming, 
home  making  and  common  industry  were  all  glorified  and  dignified; 
the  making  of  war  gardens,  the  conserving  of  food  and  the  manu- 
facturing and  mining  of  our  world  necessities  by  his  tokens  became 
privileges  of  all  American  patriots. 

You  will  be  interested  to  know  that  there  are  today  more  war 


150  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

gardens  owned  by  the  children  than  was  ever  true  in  years  gone  by. 
Boys  and  girls  who  enlisted  in  this  army  of  food  production  are  still 
in  the  game,  vindicating  their  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  country  and 
proving  that  they  purposed  real  achievement  when  they  entered. 

Our  President  often  says  to  the  boys  and  girls  when  on  their 
annual  visits  to  the  White  House,  "Achievement  is  the  only  patent 
of  nobility  of  modern  times";  and  then  he  turns  and  aptly  suggests, 
"That  such  being  true,  you  of  the  farm  and  the  home  constitute 
the  nobility  of  our  nation."  It  has  been  a  great  inspiration  to  me 
to  witness  such  scenes  and  note  how  these  young  champions  of  soil 
and  kitchen  straighten  out  and  study  with  a  proper  perspective  this 
inspiring  message  of  our  first  citizen  of  the  land. 

The  achievements  in  food  production  and  food  conservation 
for  1917  must  be  accredited  to  our  boys  and  girls  as  well  as  to  men 
and  women.  As  most  of  you  know,  the  program  of  food  work  with 
boys  and  girls  did  not  start  on  June  or  July  first  nor  was  it  at  all 
the  result  of  free  press  reports,  printed  instructions,  or  as  a  mere  re- 
sponse to  a  call  to  arms  after  the  declaration  of  war. 

You  and  I  who  have  thought  carefully,  who  have  studied  well 
civilized  society,  know  that  you  cannot  educate  children  or  even 
train  them  to  grow  economic  gardens  or  deliver  them  at  the  end  of 
the  year  as  a  worth  while  investment,  unless  there  has  been  educa- 
tion, leadership  and  direction  by  the  people  in  that  community,  in 
the  state  and  in  the  nation,  for  several  years  prior  to  the  beginning 
of  a  war  program.  The  3,000  county  agents,  1,000  club  leaders 
and  several  hundred  women  agents,  thousands  of  public  school 
teachers,  scout  leaders  and  others  have  been  educating  for  this  300 
per  cent  gain  in  food  gardens  for  a  number  of  years. 

I  listened  some  time  ago  to  a  European  who  said. 

We  people  of  Europe  made  three  serious  blunders  when  we  started  in  this 
world  war.  First,  we  in  a  measure  lei  go  of  education  and  advised  our  schools  to 
close,  and  they  did  close  in  many  instances.  Second,  we  did  not  appreciate  the 
importance  of  starting  hostilities  in  the  cornfields,  potato  patches,  gardens  and 
in  the  kitchens,  on  the  some  day  we  started  hostilities  on  the  battle  front.  After 
we  had  been  fighting  for  months  and  for  two  years,  then  we  began  to  marshal  our 
forces  of  food  production  and  food  conservation,  but  we  have  lost  the  most  im- 
portant part  of  our  preparation — the  most  effective  period.  Third,  we  have  sent 
our  tender  boys  into  the  trenches  instead  of  into  harvest  fields  and  food  pro- 
duction activities  which  means  that  after  war  is  over  we  will  people  Europe 
with  women,  old  men,  crippled  and  a  hopelessly  depleted  male  population  to  prop-< 
agate  our  kind  and  to  rebuild  our  institutions  and  industries. 


I 


Food  Production  and  Conservation  151 

We  started,  thank  God,  in  a  better  way  in  this  country  and 
with  appreciation  to  our  wise  chief  executive  we  started  in  both 
war  and  food  preparation  on  the  same  day,  three  Unes  of  national 
activities,  and  we  will  live  to  see  the  day,  I  trust,  when  we  will  under- 
stand more  fully  the  wisdom  of  thus  speeding  up  hostilities  in  all 
important  lines.  The  army  and  navy  went  to  work,  our  homes  in 
food  conservation  went  to  work,  all  of  us  engaged  in  a  family  job  of 
production,  conservation  and  real  war. 

We  make  a  serious  mistake,  friends,  in  these  days  by  trying  to 
segregate  by  sex,  important  work  and  especially  war  jobs.  Our 
food  conservation  program  demands  the  entire  family  for  every  day 
in  the  year  and  we  men  must  be  just  as  conscious  of  the  food  con- 
servation program  as  we  expect  our  wives  to  be.  We  should  and 
must  have  a  direct  part  in  the  conservation  work.  Let  us 
"Hooverize"  men  and  children  as  well  as  women. 

Then,  too,  in  the  bigger  business  of  organization,  in  these  things 
that  have  been  so  aptly  and  ably  presented  by  one  of  the  speakers 
about  the  women  getting  into  productive  enterprises,  we  men  make  a 
serious  mistake  in  thinking  that  women  cannot  be  trusted  to  handle 
business  matters,  and  some  think  women  are  incapable  of  managing 
business  enterprises.  As  an  extension  worker  for  Uncle  Sam  I  have 
learned  that  one  woman  at  least  does  the  business  of  the  family  per- 
haps better  than  the  old  man  could  do  it.  There  is  no  war  program 
that  is  confined  to  sex,  man  or  woman.  But  there  is  a  war  program 
in  every  community  that  belongs  to  both  and  should  of  course  be 
a  family  enterprise. 

Our  boys  and  girls  should  by  all  means  function  economic, 
educational  and  industrial  efficiency  during  the  war,  of  course,  with- 
out abuse  to  the  child  labor  program,  but  with  a  definite  gain  to  their 
educational  efficiency  in  school,  communities,  homes  and  churches, 
so  that  all  may  be  builded  into  a  great  world-wide  power  for  good. 

We,  as  parents,  teachers  and  leaders,  patronize  our  children 
too  much.  What  I  mean  is  this:  we  assign  to  them  kids'  jobs  in  a 
kid's  way,  then  we  wonder  why  they  are  unable  to  see  the  pleasure 
in  work  as  we  see  it.  They  see  nothing  but  "stingers  of  unrequited 
toil" — hard  work.  It  is  full  of  aches,  pains  and  discomforts  from 
early  morning  until  late  at  night,  because  we  have  given  them  every- 
thing about  work  except  mental  rejuvenation,  heart  interest,  owner- 
ship contest  and  a  manly  respect  for  achievement  in  their  work.  We 
have  given  them  every  thing  else  but  the  things  most  needed. 


15^  The  Antstals  of  the  American  Academy 

Let  me  illustrate  just  what  we  mean  by  the  transforming  of 
drudgery,  into  interesting  work.  Meet  a  boy  on  the  street  and  say, 
"Hello,  Jim,  how  are  you  this  morning?"  "Pretty  well,  thank 
you."  "Listen,  Jim.  I  have  a  little  bit  of  a  job  I  would  like  to  have 
you  help  me  do  today.  Any  little  boy  can  do  it,  Jim.  It  won't 
make  you  tired,  Jim.  Come  on  now,  won't  you  do  it  for  me, 
Jim?"  And  Jim,  a  true  American  boy,  straightens  up  and  replies, 
"Naw,     I  got  another  job,"  and  leaves  you  holding  the  bag. 

Mr.  County  Club  Leader  comes  along  with  a  big  appeal, 
and  knows  that  every  boy  must  not  only  be  trusted  but  must  each 
day  be  given  the  big  incentive  to  tackle  a  man's  job.  "Hello,  Jim. 
How  are  you,  my  young  man?"  At  once  the  "young  man"  ex- 
pression has  an  electrical  effect  and  the  boy  knows  that  he  has  been 
properly  addressed.  "Jim,"  says  Mr.  Club  Leader,  "I  have  a  hard 
job  that  I  must  have  completed  today.  It  is  a  big  job.  It  will  take 
the  brawn,  brain  and  muscle  of  a  real  man,  a  fellow  who  can  tackle, 
who  can  stay  in  the  game  and  who  can  finish  the  job.  Jim,  can  you 
help  me  find  a  man  for  this  job?"  Jim  looks  around  in  a  bewildered 
way  for  a  moment,  finally  comes  up  and  modestly  says,  "Can't  I 
help  you  do  it?"  The  job  is  assigned  and  he  is  justly  surprised  at 
his  manly  and  efficient  handling  of  a  difficult  piece  of  work. 

It  may  be  a  war  garden,  a  wheat  substitute  program,  or  what 
not.  If  it  is  Jim's  job  and  if  granted  the  right  appeal,  he  will  enter 
with  the  spirit  of  a  football  star  and  will  play  the  game  until  he 
makes  a  touchdown;  and  what  is  more,  he  will  show  results  as  a  real 
man,  and  you  will  be  proud  of  his  achievement. 

In  1916,  we  had  about  350,000  boys  and  girls  who  enHsted  in 
Uncle  Sam's  food  army  a  year  before  war  was  declared.  We 
had  a  Httle  less  than  that  in  1915,  a  httle  less  than  that  in  1914, 
and  so  on  down  to  the  year  of  1910,  when  there  were  only  a  few 
hundred  volunteers  in  this  food  production  and  food  conservation 
army;  but  they  have  been  gaining  ground  annually,  not  only  in  the 
size  of  the  army  but  in  the  number  of  projects  undertaken  and  in 
the  amount  of  food  produced. 

Let  me  give  you  some  concrete  illustrations  of  results  in  this 
"Made  in  America"  boys'  and  girls'  crusade. 

The  state  cooperative  club  leaders  conducted  1,534  demon- 
strations in  home  canning  and  food  conservation.  At  these  demon- 
strations there  was  an  attendance  of  20,860  club  members,  53,565 


I 


Food  Production  and  Conservation  153 

men  and  women  and  14,152  boys  and  girls  other  than  club  members — 
a  total  attendance  of  88,577.  These  same  club  leaders  visited 
12,898  club  plats.  This  is  in  addition  to  the  local  supervision  con- 
ducted by  4,367  volunteer  club  extension  leaders. 

A  total  of  2,083,606  pieces  of  printed  follow-up  instructions  were 
furnished  to  club  leaders  and  club  members  during  the  year.  This 
material  was  about  equally  divided  between  that  supplied  by  the 
state  colleges  of  agriculture  and  the  Department  of  Agriculture 
and  constituted  in  the  main  instructional  matter  prepared  for  boys 
and  girls  enrolled  in  the  regular  project  work,  written  with  the  idea 
of  reaching  the  boy  and  the  girl  rather  than  the  adult  reader. 

In  1915,  209,178  club  members  were  enrolled,  10,419  over  the 
enrollment  secured  for  1916.  This  reduction  was  due  to  an  effort 
on  the  part  of  state  leaders  to  reduce  the  enrollment  and  intensify 
the  work  so  that  more  direct  attention  could  be  given  club  groups 
and  the  individual  members.  It  is  interesting  to  note,  however, 
that  57  per  cent  of  the  1916  enrollment  consisted  of  members  who 
had  belonged  to  the  1915  clubs.  Owing  to  lack  of  funds  and  lead- 
ers, eight  states  reduced  their  total  enrollment. 

There  has  been  a  steady  tendency  towards  organizing  members 
into  club  groups  and  having  club  members  work  in  groups  as  well 
as  individuals.  Most  of  the  states  reported  last  year  that  they 
were  working  definitely  to  perfect  the  work  through  organized  club 
groups  with  leaders  in  charge.  Paid  cooperative  leaders  spent  on 
the  average  of  29.35  per  cent  of  their  time  in  office  work  and  70.65 
per  cent  of  their  time  in  field  extension  activities. 

In  the  corn  club  work  985  clubs  were  organized  in  twenty-four 
states,  with  an  enrollment  of  14,400.  Final  and  complete  reports 
were  made  by  3,918  members,  who  cared  for  9,711.99  acres.  On 
this  acreage,  members  produced  523,110.8  bushels  of  corn,  or  an 
average  yield  per  member  of  over  100  bushels  to  the  acre.  To  pro- 
duce this  corn,  the  members  invested  $142,867.37,  including  rent  of 
land,  cost  of  members'  own  labor  and  all  other  items  of  expense. 
The  average  investment  per  members  making  final  complete  report 
was  $36.46. 

Twenty-three  states  organized  garden  and  canning  clubs.  The 
1,160  garden  and  canning  clubs  had  an  enrollment  of  24,254  members 
of  which  7,903  reported  having  canned  201,305.5  quarts  of  products, 
an  average  of  25.4  quarts  per  member.     The  total  production  cost 


154  The  Antstals  of  the  American  Academy 

to  members  reporting  was  $28,126.61 — an  average  of  $3.56  per 
member. 

In  the  pork  and  crop  production  club  work,  twenty-five  states 
organized  3,174  members  into  8,800  clubs.  The  members  managed 
5,300  animals,  producing  728,411.96  pounds  of  pork,  worth 
$85,762.04.  It  cost  $42,675.58  to  produce  this  pork,  leaving  a 
net  profit  to  the  members  of  $43,086.46.  I 

Lewiston  One-tenth  Acre  Garden  Clubs.  Each  of  the  forty-six 
garden  club  members  in  the  irrigated  section  at  Lewiston,  Idaho, 
took  one-tenth  acre  plat  with  the  definite  aim  of  showing  the  possi- 
bilities of  these  uniform  plats  and  of  making  money  during  the 
vacation  at  home.  Some  chose  mixed-vegetable  gardening  and 
others  chose  the  main  crops  of  their  parents,  such  as  strawberries, 
apples,  potatoes,  head  lettuce  and  cauliflower.  Careful  records 
were  kept  by  each  of  all  expenses  and  receipts  as  well  as  allowing 
wages  for  actual  time  engaged  in  their  club  work. 

The  forty-six  members  produced  $3,864.80  worth  of  fruits  and 
vegetables  at  a  total  cost  in  time,  labor  and  materials  used  of 
$724.54,  leaving  a  net  profit  of  $3,140.26,  or  the  average  gain  per 
member  of  $68.26.  The  greatest  net  gains  made  were  bj'-  Harry 
Phillips  who  made  clear  $207.40  on  his  tenth-acre  of  head  lettuce 
and  Charles  Iseman,  $118.05  on  his  tenth-acre  of  early  strawberries, 
while  the  lowest  returns  to  any  club  members  were  $23  and  $25 
each  for  his  plat  of  late  strawberries,  vegetables  and  apples.  Thus 
each  became  a  local  demonstrator  in  the  home  and  for  the  commun- 
ity of  the  best  methods  of  production  and  marketing  as  well  as  a 
demonstrator  of  business  records  in  connection  with  the  work. 

On  June  30,  1917,  there  were  948  paid  leaders  working  in  con- 
nection with  the  boys'  and  girls'  club  work,  and  9,748  voluntary  club 
leaders.  Of  the  paid  leaders,  240  were  paid  cooperatively  by  the 
state  and  the  United  States  Department  of  Agriculture,  133  by  the 
state  college  and  the  local  people,  18  by  college  people  only  and  733 
by  the  local  people,  as  outlined  and  planned  by  the  state  cooperative 
leaders  in  charge. 

During  the  past  winter  from  December  1,  1916  to  April  1,  1917, 
3,589  club  members  attended  the  one  or  two  weeks'  short  courses  at 
the  state  colleges  of  agriculture.  One  thousand  five  hundred  and 
twenty-eight  of  these  were  champions  of  their  respective  counties 
in  the  boys'  and  girls'  food  work  and  were  sent  by  the  local  people 
free  of  expense  to  attend  the  college  short  courses. 


Food  Production  and  Conservation  155 

The  boys'  and  girls'  club  work  during  the  present  year  has  not 
only  increased  its  membership  and  number  of  clubs  but  has  also 
increased  its  organization  for  the  proper  supervision  and  direction 
of  the  work.  Eighteen  different  agricultural  and  home  economics 
projects  are  being  promoted  in  the  northern,  central  and  western 
states  with  a  total  enrollment  of  regularly  organized  club  members 
of  406,636.  In  addition  to  this  we  have  about  400,000  boys  and 
girls  in  the  war  emergency  projects  growing  gardens,  canning  food 
products,  raising  poultry,  making  war  bread  and  doing  other  things 
of  a  special  nature  and  character  and  supervised  by  our  state  coop- 
erative leaders.  These  are  enrolled  from  the  large  cities  and  are 
not  classified  as  regular  farm  and  home  club  members.  The  regular 
members  are  now  organized  into  the  following  clubs : 

Corn  clubs 945  Bread  clubs 643 

Potato  clubs 1,217  Sewing  clubs 1,250 

Home  garden 3,070  Handicraft  clubs 76 

Canning  clubs 2,1.52  Sugar  Beet  clubs 161 

Garden  and  canning 776  Home  cooking  clubs 755 

Mother-daughter 270  Other  miscellaneous  clubs. .  .  448 

Poultry  clubs 832                                                            •— 


Pig  clubs 1.037  Total  club  groups     13.790 

Baby  beef  clubs 158 

These  clubs  are  all  definitely  organized,  have  the  services  of  our 
leaders,  hold  regular  meetings,  have  their  own  officers  and  use  the 
project  activities  as  a  basis  of  their  work. 

What  we  mean  by  ''club  work"  is  simply  this:  the  organization 
of  boys  and  girls  and  working  them  together  in  groups  on  a  year's 
definite  program,  with  a  volunteer  or  a  paid  club  leader  supervising 
each  group  closely,  furnishing  the  follow-up  instructions,  making 
personal  visits  and  making  them  feel  that  they  are  really  helping 
to  do  a  piece  of  the  world's  work  rather  than  just  giving  them  hard 
work  as  medicine  for  their  own  good. 

When  war  was  declared  the  United  States  Department  of 
Agriculture  in  cooperation  with  the  agricultural  colleges  had  county 
agricultural  agents,  woman  demonstration  agents,  and  leaders  of 
boys'  and  girls'  club  work  on  the  job  in  over  half  of  the  counties  in 
the  union.  Today  there  are  leaders  in  one  of  three  extension  lines 
in  nearly  every  county  in  the  United  States  and  in  some  of  them 
there  are  two,  three  or  even  more.    The  state  colleges  of  agriculture 


156  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

and  the  experiment  stations,  assisted  by  the  Department  of  Agri- 
culture in  a  cooperative  way,  have  been  preparing  for  a  big  food 
program  for  some  five  or  six  years,  and  during  this  time  boys  and 
girls  have  been  getting  into  the  game  and  learning  how  to  increase 
the  production  of  food  products  and  at  this  time  help  meet  our 
war  needs. 

There  are  five  community  canning  kitchens  near  here,  out- 
growths of  the  children's  work.  Over  here  at  Ardmore,  Pa.,  there 
have  been  canned  since  June,  five  thousand  jars  of  food  products, 
now  in  storage;  at  Bryn  Mawr,  five  thousand  packs  of  food  products, 
put  up  since  June;  at  Rosemont,  a  thousand  packs;  at  Wayne,  a 
thousand;  at  Berwin,  six  thousand — over  eighteen  thousand  packs 
in  these  five  centers  have  been  successfully  canned  by  the  one- 
period,  cold-pack  method  of  canning  outhned  in  Farmers'  Bulletin 
No.  839,  with  but  a  few  jars  of  spoilage,  a  smaller  percentage  of 
spoilage  than  is  found  with  the  average  commercial  canning  plant. 

There  are  over  forty  community  cooperative  food  centers  of 
this  type  in  the  United  States,  all  started  since  war  was  declared. 
At  Southampton,  Long  Island,  Lake  Forest,  Illinois,  and  at  St. 
Louis,  all  are  doing  wonderful  work.  I  have  reports  from  these 
three  now,  and  will  hope  to  hear  from  others  later. 

The  one  at  Lake  Forest,  Illinois  well  illustrates  what  we  might 
have  in  every  community.  They  have  a  community  canning 
kitchen  and  will  also  do  work  on  the  drying  of  vegetables.  They 
have  under  the  canning  kitchen  a  storage  room  for  all  their  canned 
goods.  It  is  managed  and  supported  by  the  best  business  brains 
of  Lake  Forest;  some  of  these  high-powered  business  men  from 
Chicago  live  up  there  and  they  have  gone  in  and  contributed  freely 
of  their  brain,  brawn  and  business  experience.  They  have  also  a 
community  root  and  tuber  storage  plant.  These  three  conser- 
vation enterprises  will  serve  them  throughout  the  year.  Lake 
Forest,  Illinois  gives  us  a  notable  example  of  what  should  be  done 
in  a  cooperative  way  in  other  communities.  The  Lake  Forest, 
Illinois  canning  kitchen  now  has  in  storage  sixteen  thousand 
quarts  of  one-period,  cold-pack  canned  goods,  and  they  are  going 
to  put  up  vegetables,  jams  and  marmalades.  They  will  also  man- 
ufacture potato  starch  in  such  a  way  as  to  serve  as  a  substitute  for 
wheat  flour. 

In  talking  with  a  potato  grower  I  learned  that  from  10  to  20 


Work  of  the  Commercial  Canners  157 

per  cent  of  a  potato  crop  is  made  up  of  culls,  such  as  small,  scabby, 
and  broken  tubers — all  of  them  easily  made  up  into  potato  starch 
for  home  use.  The  interesting  thing  is  that  you  can  take  that  10 
or  20  per  cent  of  otherwise  unprofitable  potatoes  and  run  them 
through  a  food  grinder  or  chopper  at  home  or  in  a  community  coop- 
erative center,  and  by  putting  it  through  three  or  four  washes  you 
can  bring  out  of  it  a  pure  white  starch — a  splendid  exercise  for  the 
school  to  teach  the  children,  a  splendid  thing  for  the  home  to 
start.  This  potato  starch  will  become  a  splendid  substitute  for 
wheat.  For  those  who  know  how  to  bake  bread,  20  per  cent  of 
the  flour  now  used  in  the  bread,  custards,  pies,  cakes  and  other 
dishes,  may  be  made  from  potato  starch  taken  from  these  cull 
potatoes  which  would  otherwise  be  wasted. 

In  conclusion  may  I  urge  upon  you  all  the  necessity  of  increas- 
ing the  interest  in  every  community  in  our  junior  food  soldiers  and 
in  the  building  of  adequate  food  fortifications,  above  all  help  us 
patriotically  in  the  development  of  the  four-square  world  citizens, 
boys  and  girls,  achievement  crowned,  because  of  opportunities 
given  them  by  a  thoughtful  and  efl&cient  leadership. 


THE  WORK  CONDUCTED   BY  THE  COMMERCIAL 
CANNERS   OF  THE   COUNTRY 

By  W.  D.  Bigelow, 

Chief  Chemist,  National  Canners'  Association. 

The  preservation  of  food  by  sterilization  in  hermetically  sealed 
containers  was  suggested  over  a  hundred  years  ago.  For  forty 
years  the  process  was  chiefly  confined  to  the  home,  and  it  was  only 
in  the  middle  of  the  last  century  that  commercial  canning  passed  the 
experimental  stage.  Its  history  as  an  industry,  therefore,  dates 
back  only  about  sixty-five  years. 

The  canning  industry  is  one  of  the  great  movements  in 
connection  with  the  manufacture  of  food  which  has  necessarily 
accompanied  the  changing  economic  conditions  of  the  century. 
From  a  household  method  used  mainly  to  preserve  what  was  left 
over  of  raw  products  grown  for  other  purposes,  there  has  been  de- 
veloped an  industry  using  raw  products  grown  especially  for  can- 


158  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

ning.  Canning  factories,  at  first  located  in  cities,  are  now  usually 
found  in  the  country  or  in  small  towns  surrounded  by  a  farming 
community  in  which  the  particular  products  they  are  designed  to 
pack  can  be  grown  to  best  advantage.  Much  progress  has  been 
made  in  the  direction  of  preparing  products  of  uniform  character 
to  suit  a  particular  trade. 

During  the  early  days  of  the  industry  the  methods  employed 
were  held  as  secrets  and  carefully  guarded,  even  from  the  employes 
of  the  plant.  As  the  industry  developed,  it  gradually  became  evi- 
dent that  canners  were  all  guarding  substantially  the  same  informa- 
tion, so  that  the  policy  of  secrecy  in  technical  operations  was  of 
little,  if  any,  value.  It  not  only  afforded  little  protection  against 
competition,  but  it  prevented  the  possibility  of  conference  which 
might  often  be  helpful. 

Gradually,  therefore,  the  policy  of  trade  secrets  was  replaced 
by  one  of  conference  and  collaboration  in  technical  matters.  Finallj^ 
it  became  apparent  that  more  progress  could  be  made  by  systematic 
study  and  that  laboratory  methods  would  be  of  advantage.  Accord- 
ingly, in  1913,  a  laboratory  was  established  for  the  purpose  of 
investigating  canning  processes  in  order  that  the  diflficulties  of 
manufacture  might  be  eliminated,  costs  of  manufacture  reduced, 
amount  of  spoilage  decreased  and  products  improved. 

This  laborator  j^  has  had  the  close  cooperation  and  active  support 
of  the  industry  and  has  already  completed  several  investigations 
which  are  believed  to  be  helpful.  Its  most  ambitious  work  has  been 
a  collaborative  study  with  the  laboratories  of  the  American  Can 
Company  and  the  American  Sheet  and  Tin  Plate  Company  of  the 
relative  value  of  different  weights  of  tin  coating  on  canned  food 
containers.  This  work  was  undertaken  for  the  purpose  of  deter- 
mining the  minimum  amount  of  tin  coating  which  should  be  em- 
ployed to  keep  the  food  from  coming  in  contact  with  the  steel  of  the 
can  and  thus  imparting  to  the  food  an  undesirable  appearance  and 
possibly  an  undesirable  flavor.  The  idea  then  was  to  be  sure  that 
enough  tin  was  used.  The  importance  of  conserving  tin  by  pre- 
venting the  use  of  an  excessive  amount  was  regarded  as  secondary. 
Since  that  time,  our  need  of  tin  has  increased  to  such  an  extent  as 
to  sorely  tax  the  world's  supply  and  it  becomes  of  the  utmost  im- 
portance that  the  weight  of  coating  be  not  excessive. 

In  addition  to  research  problems  studied  by  the  laboratory, 


Work  of  the  Commercial  Canners  159 

samples  are  received  daily  from  members  of  the  National  Canners' 
Association  illustrating  the  difficulties  they  are  having  and  asking 
for  help  in  overcoming  them.  The  experience  of  the  laboratory 
makes  it  possible  to  answer  many  of  these  questions  and  thus  elim- 
inate great  loss  from  spoilage  that  would  otherwise  occur. 

One  of  the  difficulties  with  which  the  canning  industry  has  had 
to  contend  is  a  prejudice  against  canned  foods  due  to  lack  of  informa- 
tion on  the  subject.  This  prejudice  takes  various  forms.  The 
majority  of  consumers  give  Httle  attention  to  defining  the  grade 
and  quality  of  canned  foods  they  prefer.  In  making  a  purchase, 
they  merely  ask  for  a  can  of  peas  or  a  can  of  corn.  As  they  do  not 
know  what  to  ask  for,  they  are  inclined  to  take  the  cheapest.  The 
result  is  that  they  are  likely  to  receive  an  article  which  is  over- 
mature and  for  that  reason  of  low  commercial  grade  and  cheap. 
The  product  is  wholesome.  Its  nutritive  value  is  probably  as  high 
and,  with  some  articles,  is  likely  to  be  higher  than  that  of  the  high- 
est commercial  grade  of  the  same  article,  which  sells  for  twice  the 
price.  It  is  Hkely,  however,  to  be  less  succulent  and  tender  than 
if  the  product  had  been  harvested  a  day  or  two  earlier. 

The  canning  industry  recognizes  the  need  of  some  fundamental 
change  that  will  assist  consumers  in  buying  canned  foods  of  the 
character  and  quaUty  they  prefer.  The  subject  presents  great 
difficulties.  There  is  no  uniformity  in  labehng.  There  are  com- 
mercial grades  which  have  a  meaning  in  the  trade,  but  often  the 
labels  give  no  indication  by  which  the  consumer  can  know  the 
character  of  the  product.  Many  foods  are  difficult  to  describe  in 
terms  that  can  be  understood  by  one  who  has  not  given  the  matter 
special  study. 

A  movement  has  been  inaugurated  by  the  National  Canners' 
Association  to  correct  this  difficulty.  Standards  have  already  been 
adopted  for  canned  peas  which,  when  placed  on  the  label,  will  give 
the  consumer  exact  information  regarding  the  quality  of  the  product. 
It  is  not  expected  that  these  standards  will  take  the  place  of  trade 
names,  but  that  they  will  be  used  in  addition  to  whatever  other 
designation  is  desired.  Some  packers  have  begun  to  use  these 
grades  on  their  labels.  Others  are  ready  to  do  so  when  the  trade 
demands  it.  How  soon  they  will  come  into  general  use  depends 
on  the  consumer. 

It  may  not  be  possible  in  other  lines  of  food  to  adopt  as  exact 


I 


160  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

definitions  as  those  that  have  been  adopted  for  peas,  but  great 
advance  can  be  made  over  the  present  labels  and  the  question  is 
being  actively  studied.  If  the  consumer  will  do  his  part,  the  label 
can  soon  be  made  "the  window  of  the  can  " 

The  subject  of  food  poisoning — or  ptomaine  poisoning  as  it  is 
popularly  called — is  only  partly  and  vaguely  understood.  It  is 
known  that  illness  of  this  type  is  often  due  to  microorganisms  with 
which  the  food  is  contaminated  and  the  identity  of  some  of  these 
organisms  has  been  established. 

A  comprehensive  survey  of  the  subject  has  not  been  made,  how- 
ever, and  food  poisoning  may  sometimes  be  due  to  varieties  of 
microorganisms  or  other  factors  whose  agency  has  not  yet  been 
suspected.  Our  lack  of  information  on  this  subject  is  probably 
owing  largely  to  its  complexity  and  to  the  difficulties  involved  in 
its  study.  For  instance,  in  the  case  of  those  microorganisms  known 
to  produce  food  poisoning,  the  period  of  incubation  has  not  been 
accurately  determined,  but  is  believed  to  vary  from  a  number  of 
hours  to  several  days — perhaps  as  much  as  a  week.  When  a  case 
of  food  poisoning  occurs,  therefore,  the  food  that  caused  it  is  rarely 
available  for  study.  Because  of  the  state  of  our  information  on 
this  subject,  many  cases  of  illness,  arising  from  entirely  different 
causes,  have  been  attributed  to  food  poisoning. 

The  need  of  a  comprehensive  investigation  of  the  subject  has 
long  been  recognized.  For  some  time  such  a  study  has  been 
contemplated  by  the  canning  industry,  but  its  adequate  organ- 
ization involved  great  difficulties.  Finally,  within  the  last 
year,  the  National  Research  Council  consented  to  organize  the 
investigation. 

They  designated  as  director  Dr.  M.  J.  Rosenau,  Professor  of 
Preventive  Medicine  and  Hygiene  of  the  Harvard  Medical  School, 
and  appointed  an  advisory  commission  consisting  of  the  following 
well-known  men: 

Dr.  J.  J.  Abel,  Professor  of  Pharmacology,  Johns  Hopkins  University 

Dr.  Reid  Hunt,  Professor  of  Pharmacology,  Harvard  University 

Dr.  E.  O.  Jordan,  Professor  of  Bacteriology,  University  of  Chicago 

Dr.  Lafayette  B.  Mendel,  Professor  of  Chemistry,  Sheffield  Scientific  School, 

Yale  University 
Dr.  F.  G.  Nov)',  Professor  of  Bacteriology,  University  of  Michigan 
Dr.  H.  G.  Wells,  Professor  of  Pathology,  University  of  Chicago 
Dr.  Eugene  L.  Opie,  Professor  of  Pathology,  Washington  University 


Work  of  the  Commercial  Canners  161 

The  actual  laboratory  work  was  begun  several  months  ago  and  is 
being  actively  carried  on  by  a  corps  of  trained  workers  at  the  Harv- 
ard Medical  School.  The  National  Canners'  Association  has 
donated  to  Harvard  University  a  fund  sufficient  to  finance  the 
investigation  for  three  years. 

When  the  United  States  was  drawn  into  the  European  War,  it 
became  evident  at  once  that  the  demand  for  canned  foods  must  far 
exceed  the  supply.  Even  before  that  time,  the  amount  of  some 
products  was  insufficient.  It  was  obvious  that  the  purchase  of 
such  supplies  by  the  old  process  of  competitive  bidding  would  lead 
to  interminable  delay  and  would  not  secure  satisfactory  results.  It 
was  obvious  also  that  orders  must  be  given  for  the  army  and  navy 
which  would  be  larger  than  any  one  agency  could  supply.  In  such 
cases  bidders  must  secure  the  refusal  of  the  goods  desired  and  base 
theh  bids  on  such  refusals.  Thus  many  inquiries  would  be  made 
for  the  purpose  of  filling  a  single  order.  In  this  state  of  affairs 
the  real  demand  could  not  be  gauged  and  prices  would  be  inflated 
in  our  general  market  as  well  as  for  the  supplies  of  the  army  and 
navy. 

The  first  inquiries  of  this  nature  were  for  evaporated  milk. 
The  manufacturers  had  been  unable  to  fill  their  orders  for  some 
time  and  did  not  desire  to  bid.  There  resulted  a  consultation 
within  the  industry  in  which  it  was  arranged  that  the  needs  of  the 
government  for  this  product  should  be  supplied  for  materially  less 
than  the  market  price.  The  orders  were  apportioned  among  the 
various  manufacturers  in  proportion  to  the  amount  packed  by  each, 
and  the  quaUty  of  each  shipment  was  guaranteed.  Instead  of  the 
delay  that  has  heretofore  attended  such  purchases,  these  orders 
are  given  priority  over  all  others  and  the  milk  is  shipped  at  once. 
This  plan  was  found  so  satisfactory  that  the  manufacturers  were 
asked  to  supply  milk  on  the  same  basis  to  the  American  Red  Cross 
and  the  Committee  for  Relief  in  Belgium.  As  preparations  for  the 
war  progressed,  a  general  procedure,  based  on  this  same  arrange- 
ment, was  adopted  for  the  purchase  of  the  principal  staples. 

Under  this  plan  packers  are  instructed  by  the  Council  of 
National  Defense  to  withhold  from  sale  a  certain  percentage  of  their 
pack  of  each  of  the  canned  products  which  the  government  desires 
to  purchase.  For  instance,  the  packers  of  peas  were  asked  to  hold 
12  per  cent  of  their  entire  pack;  packers  of  tomatoes  18  per  cent; 


162  The  Annals  of  the  Amercian  Academy 

and  packers  of  string  beans  25  per  cent.  These  goods  are  then 
ordered  as  they  are  desired  by  the  army  and  navy. 

Special  arrangements  are  made  by  a  committee  of  experts  not 
connected  with  the  canning  industry  to  inspect  these  goods  and  see 
that  they  comply  with  specifications,  the  packers  being  required, 
at  the  suggestion  of  their  own  organization,  to  comply  with  the 
specifications  fixed.  On  all  of  these  purchases  the  prices  are  not 
the  subject  of  agreement  but  are  fixed  by  the  Federal  Trade  Com- 
mission, which  ascertains  the  cost  of  manufacture  by  means  of  a 
staff  of  expert  accountants  who  visit  the  canning  factories.  These 
prices  are  well  below  the  contract  prices  which  govern  the  sale  of 
the  same  commodities  in  the  usual  channels  of  trade. 

During  the  present  year  800,000  cases  of  evaporated  milk,  cost- 
ing about  $4,000,000,  are  being  used  by  the  American  Red  Cross 
and  the  Committee  for  Relief  in  Belgium.  The  army  and  navy 
use  at  least  as  much.  There  is  being  exported  for  the  use  of  our 
allies  at  least  $10,000,000  worth  of  milk  per  year. 

The  estimates  of  the  army  and  navy  for  the  present  year  include 
something  like  $6,000,000  for  tomatoes  and  $2,000,000  each  for 
salmon,  peas  and  corn.  The  amount  of  money  that  will  be  expended 
for  canned  meat  cannot  now  be  estimated,  but  will  probably  be 
between  $15,000,000  and  $20,000,000. 

The  pack  of  1916  was  short  in  most  articles.  There  are  no 
stocks  in  the  hands  of  packers  or  jobbers  and  the  supply  on  retailers' 
shelves  is  low.  It  is  apparent,  therefore,  that  the  volume  of  canned 
foods  needed  in  connection  with  the  war  mast  curtail  the  supply  of 
our  civilian  population. 

The  attempt  of  canners  to  secure  largely  increased  acreage  was 
only  partly  successful.  Many  farmers  discontinued  or  reduced 
their  acreage  of  canners'  crops  because  of  the  high  prices  prevailing 
for  corn  and  wheat.  Others  were  deterred  from  large  plantings  of 
canners'  crops  by  the  scarcity  of  help,  and  planted  crops  for  whose 
harvesting  less  labor  was  required.  Late  frosts  killed  the  first 
plantings  in  some  districts  and  new  plants  could  not  be  obtained. 
The  season  is  very  late,  and  already  frost  has  visited  some  localities. 
An  early  general  frost  would  be  disastrous  to  the  pack  of  many 
products.  The  labor  situation  is  one  of  extreme  difficulty.  The 
canning  industry  cannot  compete  with  the  high  wages  of  the  muni- 
tions manufacturers  and  has  lost  much  of  its  best  help  for  that  reason. 


Work  of  the  Commercial  Canners  163 

Its  ranks  have  been  further  depleted  by  the  organization  of  the 
army.  The  actual  canning  operations  are  therefore  conducted  this 
year  with  unusual  difficulty.  Moreover,  as  often  happens  in  late 
seasons,  the  height  of  the  season  is  marked  by  a  glut  of  some  products 
that  taxes  the  canning  plants  to  their  utmost  capacity.  Notwith- 
standing these  handicaps,  it  is  expected  that  between  five  and  six 
billion  cans  of  food  will  be  packed  in  the  United  States  this  year. 

The  supply  of  tin  is  giving  much  concern.  Early  in  the  present 
year  there  was  a  great  scarcity  of  tin  plate,  owing  to  the  inability 
of  platemakers  to  secure  a  supply  of  steel.  It  is  probable  that  the 
amount  of  tin  plate  actually  made  into  cans  was  no  less  than  in 
preceding  years,  but  the  cans  were  used  as  soon  as  manufactured 
for  baked  beans  and  war  rations  for  European  armies.  Conse- 
quently, when  the  canning  season  approached,  it  appeared  that  there 
might  not  be  a  sufficient  number  of  cans  to  take  care  of  the  crop. 

At  the  request  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture  and  the  Depart- 
ment of  Commerce,  a  special  effort  was  made  to  increase  the  manu- 
facture of  tin  plate,  and  canners  ceased  to  pack  non-perishable  goods, 
such  as  baked  beans  and  macaroni,  until  a  sufficient  supply  of  plate 
was  assured  for  the  manufacture  of  cans  necessarj''  to  preserve 
perishable  foods. 

Thus  far  there  has  been  no  scarcity  of  tin.  It  appears  possible, 
however,  that  the  supply  of  pig  tin  may  not  be  adequate  for  the 
summer  of  1918.  Great  difficulty  attends  its  production  in  Singa- 
pore owing  to  the  labor  situation,  and  it  is  possible  that  the  present 
output  of  that  region  cannot  be  increased.  The  same  is  true  of 
other  Oriental  sources.  There  is  ample  tin  in  Bolivia  which  until 
very  recently  it  has  not  been  possible  to  refine.  Lately,  practical 
methods  for  refining  Bolivian  tin  have  been  devised.  One  firm  is 
now  turning  out  from  Bolivian  ore  a  tin  of  the  highest  grade  of 
purity  at  the  rate  of  600  tons  a  month,  and  it  is  hoped  that  this 
output  can  be  increased.  Notwithstanding  this  increase,  however, 
it  is  feared  that  the  supply  of  tin  for  1918  will  not  be  sufficient  to 
meet  our  needs. 


PRODUCTION    AND    MARKETING    PLANS    FOR    NEXT 

YEAR 

By  Charles  J.  Brand, 
Chief,  Bureau  of  Markets,  United  States  Department  of  Agriculture. 

Before  proceeding  to  outline  the  production  and  marketing 
plans  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture  for  the  present  time,  as  a 
large  part  of  next  year's  production  depends  upon  the  present  seed- 
ing of  winter  grains,  and  for  the  ensuing  year,  let  us  first  examine 
briefly  what  the  problem  is  and  why  it  is  so  unusually  necessary  to 
make  plans  for  the  next  year. 

That  bread  is  second  only  to  bullets  as  an  essential  to  win  the 
war  is  not  a  theory  but  a  cold  fact.  A  relative  scarcity  of  food 
supplies  already  exists,  created  in  part  by  unfavorable  conditions 
for  crop  production,  and  in  part  by  the  diversion  of  vast  amounts 
of  farm  labor  from  the  field  of  production  into  the  pursuits  of  war. 
At  least  forty  million  men,  a  large  number  of  whom  come  from 
agricultural  pursuits,  are  now  engaged  in  war  or  in  war  work.  The 
year  1915  witnessed  the  production  of  prodigiously  large  crops  of 
the  important  cereals  in  most  of  the  producing  countries  of  the  world. 
The  United  States  made  1,025,000,000  bushels  of  wheat,  as  compared 
with  891,000,000  bushels  in  1914,  and  a  five-year  average  of  728,- 
000,000  bushels.  Last  year  (1916)  in  contradistinction  we  produced 
only  about  640,000,000  bushels,  practically  400,000,000  bushels 
less  than  in  1915,  and  nearly  100,000,000  bushels  less  than  the  five- 
year  average.  In  the  face  of  this  reduction  in  the  crop  our  normal 
export  requirements  of  about  125,000,000  bushels  were  more  than 
doubled  in  order  that  we  might  feed  the  Allies  and  the  neutral  coun- 
tries depending  upon  us. 

In  the  case  of  corn  also,  1916  witnessed  the  production  of  a 
crop  fully  400,000,000  bushels  less  than  the  preceding  bumper  crop. 
Our  white  potato  yield  was  nearly  100,000,000  bushels  less  than 
usual.  A  situation  similar  in  Idnd  but  less  in  degree  prevailed  with 
respect  to  barley,  rye  and  oats.  In  the  case  of  some  crops,  notably 
rice,  meats  and  other  animal  products,  root  vegetables  and  some 

164 


Production  and  Marketing  Plans  for  Next  Year    165 

other  vegetables  and  fruits,  including  sugar  beets,  and  sweet  ^pota-  '^ 
toes,  there  was  a  somewhat  larger  production  but  wholly  insufficient 
to  fill  the  void  occasioned  by  the  reduction  of  nine  bushels  per 
inhabitant,  or  a  total  of  about  900,000,000  bushels  of  the  three 
great  staple  food  crops, — wheat,  corn  and  potatoes.  Cabbages 
and  onions,  important  staples,  were  also  present  in  a  very  short 
supply  that  resulted  in  extraordinarily  high  prices.  Beans,  which 
are  especially  important  in  war  time,  were  normal  in  crop,  but  so 
abnormal  a  demand  existed  as  to  occasion  a  real  shortage.  As  a 
result  of  the  reduced  production  throughout  the  world  and  the 
enormous  demand,  reserve  stocks  have  been  depleted  to  an  unusual 
extent.  The  outlook  for  the  current  season  is  fair  and  there  need 
be  no  fear  of  famine  so  far  as  our  own  population  is  concerned. 
However,  as  we  have  associated  ourselves  with  the  Allies  across 
the  water  in  a  grim  determination  to  defeat  the  central  empires  in 
this  war  we  cannot  think  in  terms  of  our  own  needs  only,  but  must 
have  in  mind  in  addition  those  of  our  allies  and  those  of  deserving 
neutrals  dependent  upon  us.  Recent  exposures  force  the  considera- 
tion seriously  of  very  great  extensions  of  the  existing  embargoes  on 
foodstuffs  and  other  materials.  The  normal  total  production  of 
France,  Italy,  the  United  Kingdom  and  Belgium  of  wheat,  corn, 
oats,  barley  and  rye  is  1,846,000,000  bushels.  Their  normal  con- 
sumptive requirements  are  2,214,000,000  bushels.  Hence  their 
import  requirements  exceed  728,000,000  bushels.  In  normal  times 
Canada  and  the  United  States  have  contributed  roughly  240,000, 000 
bushels  of  this  need,  each  shipping  about  half  of  the  quantity. 
Russia,  North  Africa,  Austraha,  India  and  Argentina  have  fur- 
nished the  rest. 

In  a  general  way  the  diet  of  the  average  person  in  the  United 
States  is  obtained  from  the  following  sources: 

39  per  cent  animal 
31  per  cent  cereal 
25  per  cent  fruits  and  vegetables 
5  per  cent  sugar,  condiments  and  miscellaneous 

It  is  apparent  from  this  that  practically  70  per  cent  of  the  whole 
food  requirements  depends  upon  animal  and  grain  food  products. 
Therefore  it  is  their  production  and  conservation  that  is  of  the 
highest  importance.  On  account  of  the  inroads  that  war  has  made 
upon  the  herds  and  flocks  of  the  world,  it  is  estimated  that  there 


166  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

has  been  a  decrease  of  over  115,000,000  head  of  cattle,  hogs  and 
sheep.  Although  our  own  animal  production  has  been  increasing 
slightly  during  recent  years  after  a  long  period  of  serious  decline, 
it  has  not  kept  pace  with  our  increasing  population  to  say  nothing 
of  our  export  demand.  The  average  exportation  of  American 
meats  during  the  three  years  preceding  the  war  was  something 
over  493,000,000  pounds.  During  the  war  year,  extending  from 
July  1,  1915  to  June  30,  1916,  the  total  exportation  was  almost 
1,400,000,000  pounds,  or  an  increase  of  nearly  a  billion  pounds 
over  normal  times. 

In  the  case  of  the  cereals,  the  existing  crop  situation  in  the  allied 
countries,  while  fairly  satisfactory,  in  view  of  the  vast  amounts  of 
labor  diverted  to  war,  still  leaves  a  large  total  requirement  that  must 
be  supplied  largely  by  North  America.  The  long  haul  from  Aus- 
tralia requires  three  times  the  tonnage  that  shipments  from  North 
America  require  and  shipping  is  scarce.  The  great  uncertainty  of 
being  able  to  move  any  considerable  quantities  from  India  make  it 
unwise  to  depend  too  seriously  upon  that  source.  Transportation 
conditions  in  Russia  are  almost  impossible  even  though  there  may 
be  considerable  wheat  available.  The  last  season's  crop  from  the 
River  Plate  territory  was  small,  and  the  outlook  for  the  new  har- 
vest is  not  encouraging.  Hence,  added  responsibilities  for  the 
United  States  and  Canada. 

In  the  case  of  wheat,  the  probable  production  of  our  great 
allies  is  about  961,000,000  bushels  compared  with  their  normal 
peace  production  of  1,486,000,000  bushels.  The  deficiency  due  to 
war  promises  to  be  about  525,000,000  bushels  in  Great  Britain, 
France  and  Italy.  The  neutral  nations  dependent  upon  us  need 
about  192,000,000  bushels.  The  normal  consumptive  require- 
ment of  the  United  States  is  about  575,000,000  bushels.  The  Bu- 
reau of  Crop  Estimates  anticipates  a  crop  of  about  668,000,000 
bushels.  Hence  our  exportable  surplus  will  be  in  the  neighborhood 
of  90,000,000  bushels.  On  the  basis  of  the  existing  crop  prospects 
throughout  the  world,  the  United  States,  Canada,  Argentine, 
Australia,  North  Africa  and  India  will  be  able  to  supply  about  500,- 
000,000  bushels.  This  leaves  between  seventy-five  and  one  hun- 
dred million  bushels  of  shortage  which  must  be  obtained  by  conser- 
vation and  better  utilization.  What  this  means  in  terms  of  bread 
will  perhaps  convey  the  shortage  to  your  minds  more  adequately. 


I 


I 


Production  and  Marketing  Plans  for  Next  Year    167 


It  requires  four  and  one-half  bushels  of  wheat  to  make  a  barrel  of 
flour.  If  the  shortage  were  75,000,000  bushels  and  it  took  five 
bushels  to  make  a  barrel  of  flour,  the  shortage  would  be  15,000,000 
barrels.  A  barrel  of  flour  under  average  conditions  in  modern 
bakeries  produces  275  loaves  of  bread.  Hence  the  shortage  amounts 
to  more  than  four  billion  loaves  of  bread.  This  probably  is  suffi- 
cient to  feed  every  soul  in  the  United  States  with  his  normal  re- 
quirement of  bread  for  two  months.  I  have  cited  meats  and  cereals 
to  indicate  the  amount  and  character  of  our  needs. 

In  the  case  of  two  of  our  great  food  crops  the  prospect  is  for  a 
1  arge  increase.  In  spite  of  the  early  frosts  in  the  northern  states  we 
will  probably  have  a  corn  crop  of  at  least  three  billion  bushels  as 
compared  with  a  five-year  average  of  2,700,000,000  bushels.  The 
prospect  for  a  potato  crop  is  exceedingly  fine,  the  estimates  indicat- 
ing about  four  and  one-half  million  bushels.  Last  year's  crop 
totaled  only  285,000,000  bushels. 

With  this  general  introduction  of  the  great  problem  to  be  met 
let  us  examine  briefly  the  steps  that  are  being  taken  in  the  United 
States  to  increase  production  and  to  improve  distribution. 

Production  Plans 

Cereals.  The  elaboration  of  a  food  production  program  raises 
many  serious  questions.  When  war  was  declared  in  April,  seeding 
plans  for  the  current  season  were  far  advanced  and  of  course  the 
winter  wheat  crop  planted  the  previous  fall  was  susceptible  of  no 
particular  attention  except  through  the  possible  application  of 
nitrates  for  its  quicker  stimulation.  Nevertheless,  active  steps 
were  taken  immediately  to  effect  as  large  an  increase  as  was  possible. 
The  Secretary  of  Agriculture  called  together  at  St.  Louis  on  April 
9  and  10,  a  most  representative  body  of  the  agricultural  interests 
of  the  nation.  After  thoroughgoing  discussion  of  all  of  the  prob- 
lems involved,  a  careful  report  was  drafted  recommending  the 
steps  to  be  taken.  The  main  features  of  the  production  program 
may  be  summarized  briefly  as  follows : 

1.  Every  community  was  to  be  urged  to  produce  its  own  food  and  feed   so 
far  as  practicable. 

2.  The  production  of  non-perishable  staples  was  to   be    increased    beyond 
local  needs  in  every  locality  where  this  could  be  done  most  profitably. 

3.  The  staples  recommended  by  the  Department  for  immediately  increased 


168  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

plantings  were  spring  wheat,  rye,  beans  and  rice.  Sugar  beet  and  sugar  cane 
production  were  to  be  increased  in  districts  lending  themselves  to  those  indus- 
tries. 

4.  The  commercial  production  of  perishables  was  to  be  increased  above 
normal  only  as  the  facilities  of  transportation  and  marketing  were  assured,  while 
the  home  garden  was  encouraged,  particularly  with  a  view  to  supplying  the  need 
of  the  family  growing  it. 

It  was  recognized  that  the  farmer  is  a  business  man  and  that 
he  could  not  produce  crops  at  a  loss.  Therefore,  only  sound  prac- 
tices which  involved  no  dislocation  in  the  industry  wer6  recom- 
mended. 

During  the  current  summer  more  definite  recommendations 
for  the  production  of  1918  have  been  prepared,  taking  into  account 
the  existing  conditions  as  to  transportation,  seed  supply,  fertilizers, 
farm  machinery  and  available  farm  labor.  The  program  worked 
out  called  for  44,634,000  acres  of  winter  wheat.  The  authorities 
of  the  states  most  concerned,  which  are  those  properly  equipped 
with  machinery  for  producing  and  harvesting  winter  wheat,  decided 
that  it  was  possible  to  increase  the  acreage,  and  the  plan  finally 
adopted  called  for  the  sowing  of  over  47,000,000  acres  of  winter 
wheat,  and  over  5,000,000  acres  of  winter  rye.  On  the  basis  of 
the  average  yield  for  the  past  ten  years,  this  acreage  should  produce 
about  672,000,000  bushels. 

As  noted  before,  the  prospect  for  the  present  year  of  both 
winter  and  spring  wheat  is  only  about  668,000,000  bushels.  If  we 
should  have  a  bumper  crop,  this  acreage  would  produce  in  the 
neighborhood  of  850,000,000  bushels.  On  the  whole,  for  the 
United  States,  the  per  cent  of  increase  suggested  is  18. 

With  regard  to  spring  wheat,  it  is  too  early  to  determine  what 
area  should  be  sown  next  year.  In  1917  there  were  19,000,000 
acres.  If  the  yield  is  up  to  the  average  of  the  last  ten  years,  there 
will  be  a  crop  of  251,000,000  bushels.  If  it  equals  the  great  crop  of 
1915,  it  may  total  350,000,000  bushels.  Should  we  attain  a  com- 
bined planting  of  66,000,000  acres  of  spring  and  winter  wheat,  and 
have  an  average  yield,  we  may  expect  over  1,000,000,000  bushels 
in  1918.  With  highly  favorable  conditions,  it  might  reach  a  bilUon 
and  a  quarter. 

Rye  is  recommended  particularly  for  the  soils  and  conditions 
in  those  states  suited  to  its  cultivation  where  wheat  production  is 
more  precarious  and  rye  can  be  planted  more  safely.     It  succeeds 


I 


Production  and  Marketing  Plans  for  Next  Year    169 

on  poorer  soils  with  less  fertilizer  than  wheat;  likewise  is  somewhat 
less  susceptible  of  winter  killing.  An  acreage  of  5,131,000  is  recom- 
mended, which  on  the  ten-year  average  yield  will  produce  about 
84,000,000  bushels.  This  acreage  would  represent  a  22  per  cent 
increase  over  last  year. 

The  planting  of  winter  oats  in  the  south  is  recommended  to 
the  extent  that  suitable  seed  of  adapted  varieties  is  available. 
Recommendations  have  not  been  prepared  covering  next  spring's 
planting  of  corn,  spring  oats,  rice,  the  grain  sorghums  and  buck- 
wheat, but  in  due  time  and  well  in  advance  of  the  planting  season, 
these  recommendations  will  be  available. 

The  bean  acreage  this  year  represents  an  increase  of  over  84 
per  cent  over  last  year's.  It  is  still  too  early  to  say  definitely  what 
should  be  done  regarding  this  crop,  as  well  as  soy  beans,  cowpeas 
and  peanuts.  The  increase  in  the  acreage  of  the  peanut  crop  in 
the  last  year  is  60  per  cent. 

The  production  of  hay  and  forage  crops  is  to  be  increased  to 
such  an  extent  as  may  be  practicable,  to  equal  at  least  the  plantings 
of  the  present  season.  Fortunately  the  high  prices  of  livestock 
will  tend  to  discourage  plowing  up  pastures  to  grow  grain  crops, 
thus  to  an  extent  enlarging  our  possibility  of  supplying  ourselves 
and  our  allies  with  sufficient  livestock  and  meat  products. 

The  demand  for  fertilizer  is  very  large  and  the  demand  for 
basic  chemicals,  particularly  sulphuric  acid,  in  other  industries,  in- 
cluding munitions,  has  resulted  in  high  prices  and  low  stocks.  In 
addition,  there  is  some  suspicion  of  hoarding,  particularly  of  sulphur 
which  might  be  used  to  increase  our  fertilizer  supply.  An  investi- 
gation of  this  subject  is  to  be  undertaken  immediately. 

Carefully  worked  out  plans  are  being  put  into  operation  in  the 
areas  where  suitable  seed  stocks  exist,  to  insure  their  use  for  in- 
creased production.  In  cooperation  with  the  Food  Administration 
all  requests  for  the  storage  of  grain  for  seed  purposes  will  be  passed 
upon  with  a  view  to  effecting  the  saving  of  the  highest  qualities. 

Livestock.  The  Department,  with  the  cooperation  of  the  Food 
Administration,  agricultural  colleges,  livestock  associations  and 
producers,  is  taking  many  steps  to  extend  the  production  of  cattle, 
hogs,  and  sheep.  With  respect  to  beef  cattle,  the  following  lines  of 
work  are  being  actively  prosecuted:  increased  feed  production 
work,  direct  distribution  of  range  cattle  to  feeding  areas,  the  re- 


170  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

distribution  of  livestock  from  drouth-stricken  areas  to  areas  of 
more  plentiful  feed,  a  concentrated  drive  against  the  cattle  tick, 
the  most  efficient  management  of  federal  grazing  lands,  the  greater 
encouragement  of  boys'  beef  clubs,  and  the  appointment  of  a  very- 
large  number  of  additional  agricultural  agents  who  will  assist  in 
the  extension  of  the  cattle  industry  through  educational  and  demon- 
strational  work. 

Inefficient  dairy  cows  at  existing  beef  prices  have  proven  more 
valuable  for  meat  than  for  milk  production  with  the  result  that 
unprofitable  cows  have  gone  to  the  block  and  a  concomitant  de- 
crease has  taken  place  in  the  total  production  of  milk  in  proportion 
to  the  population.  While  milk  prices  are  high,  they  have  not 
risen  in  proportion  to  other  products.  Increase  in  the  supply  of 
milk  and  milk  products  must  be  secured  by  a  better  understanding 
of  scientific  methods  of  feeding  and  the  selection  of  cows  of  greater 
production.  This  is  being  fostered  by  the  Department  through 
increasing  the  number  of  cow  testing  associations.  Much  ill- 
advised  talk  is  going  the  rounds  of  the  press  caUing  for  the  preven- 
tion of  marketing  dairy  calves.  We  can  not  feed  the  same  milk  to 
both  babies  and  calves;  neither  can  we  use  our  available  feeds  for 
growing  inefficient  dairy  calves  into  low  value  beef  animals  and 
have  the  requisite  amount  of  feed  left  to  produce  the  needed  flow 
of  milk.  A  certain  way  to  decrease  production  would  be  to  pro- 
hibit the  slaughter  of  dairy  calves.  The  Department  disapproves 
of  steps  in  this  direction. 

There  is  a  world  shortage  of  wool  and  mutton.  To  overcome 
this,  all  agricultural  agencies  are  working  in  the  direction  of  more 
thorough  education  in  sheep  raising  and  wool  growing  along  safe 
and  conservative  lines.  The  redistribution  of  ewes  no  longer  able 
to  endure  the  hardships  of  the  range  to  small  farms  is  suggested. 
Steps  will  be  taken  to  further  overcome  the  injury  and  loss  due  to 
predatory  animals.  The  saving  for  breeding  purposes  of  every  ewe 
lamb  that  promises  to  have  an  economic  future  is  also  urged. 

Hog  production  is  to  be  increased  by  every  available  means, 
including  the  greater  control  of  hog  cholera  and  other  hog  diseases 
and  general  educational  and  demonstrational  work  in  the  direction 
of  more  efficient  production  of  pork  and  pork  products.  In  connec- 
tion with  hog  production  we  are  urging  particularly  upon  farmers  the 
raising  of  all  meat  required  for  home  use  and  the  utilization  of  pas- 


Production  and  Marketing  Plans  for  Next  Year    171 

ture  and  forage  crops  to  a  maximum  extent  in  order  to  reduce  the 
grain  ration  required  for  making  pork. 

Perishables.  It  is  too  soon  to  make  definite  recommendations 
regarding  acreages  of  truck  crops  to  be  planted  for  harvest  in  1918. 
It  is  certain  that  we  should  have  more  frequent  and  more  detailed 
estimates  of  crop  prospects  and  crops,  particularly  of  the  highly- 
perishable  fruits  and  vegetables.  The  home  garden,  as  was  urged 
this  year,  should  be  encouraged  to  the  extent  of  supplying  as  fully 
as  possible  the  needs  of  the  family  growing  it  and  any  certain  market 
outlet  that  may  be  available.  The  market  gardener  should  be 
encouraged  to  plant  to  meet  seasonal  demands  of  the  market  he 
customarily  supphes.  The  trucking  industry  should  be  encouraged 
to  plant  such  acreages  as  will  meet  the  normal  demands  of  the  mar- 
kets as  fixed  by  production  in  competing  territories.  Expansion 
of  commercial  production  should  be  undertaken  only  after  very 
thorough  investigation  in  such  territories  as  have  not  been  thor- 
oughly tested.  So  far  as  possible  truck  crops  should  be  produced 
at  the  shortest  feasible  distance  from  the  point  of  consumption  in 
order  to  lessen  the  exactions  upon  our  transportation  facilities. 

The  National  Government  in  its  Relation  to  Marketing 
Crops  During  the  War 

Increased  attention  must  be  given  to  the  marketing  of  food 
products  in  the  present  crisis  because,  in  response  to  appeals  from 
every  side,  production  will  be  increased  immensely  during  the  pres- 
ent season.  Sections  which  never  before  produced  commercial 
surpluses  will  do  so  this  year  and  the  producers,  being  inexperienced 
in  marketing,  will  not  know  how  to  dispose  of  their  commodities 
without  assistance.  They  will  be  confronted  with  a  situation  some- 
what similar  to  that  which  faced  some  of  the  farmers  in  the  Southern 
States  when,  after  the  ravages  of  the  boll  weevil  had  made  it  inad- 
visable to  continue  to  plant  cotton,  the  producers  began  to  raise 
other  crops  and  produced  grain  in  commercial  quantities.  The 
proper  distribution  of  this  season's  bean  crop  in  such  a  way  as  to 
secure  equitable  returns  for  the  producers  promises  to  be  an  impor- 
tant problem,  and  potatoes  have  been  planted  so  heavily  that  many 
sections  will  show  a  commercial  surplus  for  the  first  time.  The 
growers  of  these  commodities  will  be  largely  dependent  upon  the 
Department  for  disinterested  and  accurate  information. 


172  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

The  economical  disposition  of  the  products  of  home  gardens — 
the  number  of  which  has  increased  tremendously — has  presented 
many  difficulties.  At  present  it  is  impossible  to  measure  the 
effect  which  the  harvesting  of  these  commodities  will  produce. 
Some  of  the  truck  growers  surrounding  certain  large  cities  have  not 
been  able  to  dispose  of  their  crops  because  their  former  customers 
have  been  turned  into  producers.  They  can  only  hope  to  sell  their 
products  in  other  cities  which  have  not  engaged  so  extensively  in 
gardening  and  the  problem  has  been  to  stimulate  consumption  and 
to  bring  the  growers  promptly  into  touch  with  communities  which 
are  able  to  absorb  their  products. 

The  particular  marketing  plans  with  which  the  Bureau  of  Mar- 
kets will  be  charged  are  outlined  below: 

Market  News  Services 

One  of  the  things  pressing  most  strongly  for  attention  in  the 
present  crisis  is  the  question  of  proper  and  equitable  apportionment 
of  supplies  between  markets  to  avoid  the  manifest  wastefulness  of 
having  some  markets  undersuppHed  and  some  oversupplied  with 
food  and  of  allowing  food  to  decay  because  it  cannot  be  sold  in  the 
market  to  which  it  has  been  sent.  This  question  the  Bureau  of 
Markets  proposes  to  meet  by  extending  its  market  news  services  on 
fruits  and  vegetables  and  livestock  and  meats,  and  to  render  a  serv- 
ice similar  in  nature  upon  butter,  eggs,  poultry,  grains,  seeds  and 
hay.  These  services  will  not  only  promote  a  more  equitable  dis- 
tribution of  the  food  of  the  nation,  but  will  assist  the  producer  in 
obtaining  a  better  market  for  his  products. 

Fruits  and  Vegetables.  A  field  force  has  been  organized  to 
cover  in  turn  the  most  important  producing  areas  of  various  fruit 
and  truck  crops  immediately  preceding  and  during  the  shipping 
seasons.  Some  of  the  crops  covered  by  the  news  service  last  year 
were  tomatoes,  cantaloupes,  peaches,  watermelons,  onions,  aspara- 
gus, strawberries,  potatoes,  grapes  and  apples.  Temporary  and 
permanent  branch  offices  have  been  established  in  the  most  impor- 
tant markets  and  consuming  centers  and  daily  telegraphic  reports 
are  obtained  from  the  common  carriers  showing  the  number  of  cars 
of  each  crop  shipped  from  producing  areas  on  their  lines  and  the 
destinations  to  which  such  produce  will  go.  These  reports, 
together  with  the  number  of  cars  offered  and  the  prices  prevailing 


Production  and  Marketing  Plans  for  Next  Year    173 

on  each  of  the  principal  markets,  are  summarized  for  redistribution 
to  producing  districts,  markets  and  the  press. 

Under  the  emergency  appropriation  the  number  of  permanent 
stations  will  be  increased  from  twelve  to  twenty-five  and  the  list  of 
products  reported  on  will  be  enlarged  so  as  to  include  all  of  the  more 
important  fruits  and  vegetables  and  such  staples  as  dried  beans  and 
peas.  The  service  will  be  country  wide,  stations  being  opened  on 
the  Pacific  Coast  and  in  the  South. 

Livestock  and  Meats.  A  market  reporting  service  on  meat  trade 
conditions  in  the  eastern  consuming  cities  was  instituted  in  Decem- 
ber, 1916,  and  the  information  is  published  daily  in  bulletin  form  in 
such  important  markets  as  Boston,  New  York,  Philadelphia, 
Chicago,  Omaha,  Kansas  City  and  Washington.  Daily  telegraphic 
reports  are  received  from  division  superintendents  of  railroads 
showing  the  number  of  cars  of  each  class  of  livestock  loaded  during 
the  preceding  twenty-four  hours  and  the  destinations  of  these  cars. 
This  information  is  compiled  daily  and  wired  to  the  principal  central 
markets.  "^ 

Under  the  emergency  appropriation  the  eight  stations  now 
covered  will  be  increased  to  twenty  and  the  organizations  in  Chicago 
and  New  York  will  be  built  up  to  a  point  commensurate  with  the  im- 
portance of  those  markets.  This  work  should  be  particularly 
valuable  in  the  present  emergency  not  only  in  equalizing  the  distri- 
bution of  livestock  and  meats,  but  because,  tending  to  inspire  con- 
fidence in  the  mind  of  the  producer  and  relieve  him  of  the  fear  of 
manipulation,  it  will  increase  production.  The  livestock  business 
has  been  so  hazardous  that  stockmen  have  been  leaving  it  for  other 
and  safer  undertakings. 

Butter,  Cheese,  Eggs  and  Poultry.  The  news  service  on  dairy 
and  poultry  products  will  include  the  securing  and  issuing  of  re- 
ports of  production,  market  receipts,  market  conditions,  and  market 
prices  of  these  products.  Branch  offices  will  be  established  on  the 
Pacific  Coast,  in  the  Middle  West,  in  the  South,  and  in  the  East. 
This  work,  however,  is  yet  in  an  experimental  stage.  This  service  is 
greatly  needed  as  the  storage  of  these  products  is  based  largely  on 
guess  work  and  inadequate  information  and  trading  in  these  prod- 
ucts involves  much  speculation.  An  information  service  on  these 
products  should  improve  inarket  conditions,  stabilize  prices  and 
facilitate  trading.     The  need  of  this  market  information  is  greatly 


[ 


174  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

increased  by  the  fact  that  the  butter  and  egg  exchanges  are  scarcely 
performing  their  normal  functions. 

Grain,  Seeds  and  Hay.  A  market  reporting  service  is  now  being 
estabHshed  for  grain,  hay  and  seed.  Under  this  service  bi-weekly 
reports  are  being  issued  giving  estimates  of  stocks  on  hand,  ship- 
ments, requirements  of  markets  in  the  immediate  future,  and  the 
prices  at  which  these  commodities  are  being  bought  and  sold  in 
various  sections  of  the  country. 

For  this  purpose  the  country  has  been  divided  into  ten  districts, 
the  first  district  to  be  organized  including  Virginia,  West  Virginia, 
North  and  South  Carolina,  Maryland  and  Delaware.  Reports  will 
be  issued  at  present  on  wheat,  corn,  oats,  and  hay.  Other  commod- 
ities will  be  added  and  additional  territory  included  as  rapidly  as 
possible. 

Working  in  cooperation  with  the  Bureau  of  Plant  Industry, 
seed  stocks  of  suitable  quahty  are  being  located  in  order  to  see  that 
all  communities  are  adequately  supplied  with  properly  acclimatized 
seed  for  planting. 

Food  Supply 

In  order  to  have  authoritative  information  as  to  the  country's 
food  supply  the  Department  of  Agriculture,  through  this  Bureau, 
is  taking  stock  of  our  food  supply  with  a  view  to  secure  information 
regarding  the  existing  quantity  of  food  products  and  its  location 
and  ownership.  In  this  crisis  accurate  information  should  be  at 
hand  regarding  the  instrumentalities  and  agencies  that  own,  con- 
trol, manufacture,  and  distribute  food  products.  For  this  purpose 
schedules  have  been  mailed  to  385,000  food  handling  enterprises 
from  whom  certified  reports  are  being  obtained  showing  the  amount 
of  eighteen  important  food  articles  held  by  each.  As  an  indication 
of  their  character  and  number,  I  will  cite  some  of  the  more  impor- 
tant groups: 

Grain  elevators,  mills,  and  wholesale  dealers 38,000 

Grain,  flour  and  feed  dealers  and  proprietary  feed  manufacturers 18,000 

Breweries 1,200 

Distilleries 800 

Rice  mills  and  storages 800 

Canners  of  fruits,  vegetables,  meats  and  sea  foods 6,500 

Mills,  refineries  and  exclusive  dealers  of  edible  oils -...'.  1,400 

Sugar  and  sirup  mills  and  refineries 1,300 

Wholesale  and  retail  bakers 32,000 


Production  and  Marketing  Plans  for  Next  Year    175 

Manufacturing  and  wholesale  confectioners 1,800 

Rsh  freezing  plants,  and  dry  and  salt  fish  packers 1,040 

Slaughterers  and  meat  packers 3,700 

Lard  compound  and  oleomargarine  manufacturers 169 

Wholesale  poultry,  butter,  egg  and  cheese  dealers 5,000 

Poultry  packing  and  fattening  plants,  and  live  poultry  shippers 5,000 

Wholesale  fruit  and  vegetable  dealers 1,500 

Wholesale  grocers  and  merchandise  brokers  with  stocks 7,500 

Creameries  and  milk  condenseries  (condenseries  393) 7,000 

Cheese  factories 5,000 

After  this  information  is  obtained  reports  will  be  secured  monthly 
from  all  places  storing  agricultural  products  in  order  to  keep  an 
account  of  the  food  supply  so  that  at  any  time  it  will  be  possible  to 
tell  just  how  much  food  the  country  has  on  hand  and  its  exact 
whereabouts.  After  the  harvests  are  all  in,  about  December  first, 
a  more  comprehensive  and  detailed  survey  will  be  made. 

Conservation    of    Food    Products    in    Transportation,  and 

Storage 

Through  its  investigational  work  extending  over  a  number  of 
years,  the  Department  has  been  able  to  a  great  extent  to  determine 
the  most  efficient  manner  of  handling  perishable  food  products 
intended  for  transportation  and  storage.  Information  will  be 
distributed  calculated  to  promote  the  extension  and  to  insure  the 
effective  application  of  the  fundamental  principles  governing  such 
matters.  Sources  of  waste  must  be  pointed  out,  such  as  those  caused 
by  delays  in  shipment,  delays  in  transit  and  at  terminals,  and  im- 
proper methods  of  storing  in  cars.  Efficient  and  inefficient  types 
of  containers  will  be  demonstrated  and  producers  and  others  shown 
the  amount  of  losses  resulting  from  unnecessarily  long  hauls,  too 
long  storage,  or  storage  in  buildings  not  well  adapted  for  that  pur- 
pose. 

City  Market  Service 

As  mentioned  in  the  first  part  of  this  article  the  home  garden- 
ing movement  probably  will  cause  some  losses  to  truck  gardeners 
having  farms  adjacent  to  cities,  upon  the  inhabitants  of  which 
they  depend  for  their  market.  In  some  cities  the  plan  worked 
out  by  this  Bureau  in  cooperation  with  the  market  gardeners' 
association  at  Providence,   Rhode  Island,  probably  will  be  used. 


176  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

An  agent  visits  the  market  early  in  the  morning  to  ascertain  the 
amount  and  kind  of  produce  on  the  farmers'  wagons.  He  deter- 
mines also  as  accurately  as  possible  the  probable  supply  which 
will  be  brought  to  the  market  by  the  growers  on  the  next  day  and 
this  information  will  be  tabulated  and  posted.  If  it  should  ap- 
pear that  more  fruits  and  vegetables  will  be  brought  to  the  market 
than  the  market  can  absorb,  means  are  taken  to  find  other  points 
having  need  of  such  products.  Municipalities  are  being  assisted 
in  improving  their  methods  of  handling  and  distributing  foods 
and  wherever  necessary  an  effort  will  be  made  to  install  municipal 
drying  plants  to  take  care  of  home-grown  fruits  and  vegetables  which 
cannot  be  consumed  when  fresh. 

Direct  Marketing  Activities 

This  work  will  be  conducted  in  cooperation  with  the  Post 
Ofl&ce  Department  and  express  companies  in  order  to  assist  in  the 
direct  interchange  of  products  between  nearby  producers  and  con- 
sumers. 

Prevailing  high  prices  create  for  direct  marketing  a  much  wider 
field  of  usefulness  than  it  would  possess  under  normal  conditions, 
as  it  is  now  economically  possible  to  market  commodities  by  parcel 
post  or  express  which  heretofore  could  not  have  been  disposed  of 
in  this  way  because  the  relatively  high  cost  of  packing  and  shipping 
rendered  this  impracticable. 

Assistance  will  be  given  so  far  as  feasible  in  establishing  per- 
sonal contacts  between  producers  and  consumers  in  order  to  assist 
in  marketing  the  surplus  products  of  home  gardens  and  the  excess 
produced  by  truck  growers  and  others,  and  many  small  quantities 
of  food  will  thus  be  sold  that  otherwise  could  not  be  marketed. 
This  will  add  to  the  available  food  supply  of  the  nation.  Agents  will 
be  placed  in  a  number  of  large  cities  throughout  the  country  to 
awaken  interest  in  direct  marketing  among  consumers.  Agents 
also  will  work  through  the  postmasters  in  small  towns  in  interesting 
producers  in  furnishing  supplies. 

In  view  of  the  car  shortage,  and  congestion  at  terminals,  and 
the  great  difficulty  that  is  experienced  in  handling  efficiently  less 
than  carlot  quantities  of  freight,  demonstrations  will  be  undertaken 
in  the  establishment  of  automobile  truck  marketing  routes. 


Production  and  Marketing  Plans  for  Next  Year    177 

Inspection  Service 

Under  an  amendment  inserted  in  the  food  survey  bill  on  the 
floor  of  the  Senate  an  inspection  service  will  be  conducted  enabling 
the  Secretary  of  Agriculture  to  investigate  and  certify  to  shippers 
the  condition  of  fruits  and  vegetables  and  other  products  arriving 
on  the  market.  Producers,  dealers  and  transportation  companies 
have  been  clamoring  for  an  inspection  service  for  many  years.  It 
should  afford  protection  to  producers  against  unjustified  rejections 
of  produce  and  against  false  and  misleading  reports  concerning  the 
condition  of  produce  consigned  for  sale  on  commission.  This  ser- 
vice should  stimulate  the  production  of  perishable  products  by 
assuring  the  grower  fair  treatment  in  the  market  and  educating  him 
to  better  methods  of  packing  and  handHng,  and  the  consumer  would 
be  benefited  by  the  increased  production  thus  brought  about. 
Certificates  from  federal  inspectors  would  furnish  a  basis  for  adjust- 
ing claims  for  damages  to  perishable  products  in  transit  and  should 
have  an  important  educational  value  in  tending  to  keep  the  grower 
informed  as  to  market  requirements  and  teach  him  to  grade  and 
pack  his  product  in  accordance  with  those  requirements. 

Standardization 

The  standardization  of  agricultural  products  and  the  packages 
and  containers  in  which  they  are  offered  for  sale  is  fundamental  not 
only  to  the  efl&cient  marketing  of  agricultural  and  other  products, 
but  is  absolutely  necessary  in  the  present  crisis  because  it  will  fur- 
nish an  accurate  basis  for  price  quotations  and  should  obviate  many 
of  the  delays  and  misunderstandings  which  inevitably  arise  on  ac- 
count of  a  lack  of  complete  understanding  between  buyers  and  sellers 
and  which  will  interfere  materially  with  the  intelligent  distribution 
of  food  to  our  own  people  and  to  our  allies. 

Standards  definitely  determined  upon  furnish  buyer  and  seller 
with  a  common  terminology  so  that  the  latter  knows  just  what  the 
former  will  deliver  to  him  when  he  contracts  for  a  commodity  of  a 
specified  grade.  Standardization  of  agricultural  products  furnishes 
an  adequate  basis  for  the  efficient  dissemination  of  market  informa- 
tion. When  the  experimental  market  news  service  was  put  into 
effect  by  the  Office  of  Markets  and  Rural  Organization  about  two 
years  ago  the  necessity  was  quickly  realized  for  a  common  lan- 
guage in  quoting  prices  and  for  the  accurate  description  of  prod- 


178  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

ucts,  packages,  and  containers.  Standards  already  have  been 
fixed  for  shelled  corn  and  wheat  under  the  United  States  grain 
standards  act,  and  for  white  and  colored  cottons  under  the  United 
States  cotton  futures  act.  Under  the  standard  basket  act  man- 
datory standards  have  been  fixed  for  Climax  baskets  for  grapes  and 
other  fruits  and  vegetables,  and  baskets  and  other  containers  for 
small  fruits,  berries  and  vegetables.  Tentative  grades  have  been 
worked  out  for  Arkansas  sweet  potatoes,  Irish  potatoes,  apples,  and 
other  commodities. 

Marketing  Plans 

Licensing  and  Supervision.  When  Congress  asked  the  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture  to  draft  suitable  legislation  to  provide  for  the 
national  security  and  defense  by  encouraging  the  production,  con- 
serving the  supply,  and  controlling  the  distribution  of  food  products, 
this  Bureau  assisted  largely  in  the  drafting  of  the  legislation.  One 
section  of  the  food  control  bill  empowers  the  President,  through 
such  instruments  as  he  may  select  or  create,  to  license  the  agencies 
of  distribution.  This  task  has  been  assigned  to  the  Food  Adminis- 
tration under  Mr.  Hoover.  This  is  a  matter  in  which  I  have  taken 
a  great  personal  interest  for  a  number  of  years.  To  my  mind  the 
enactment  of  Section  5,  the  licensing  section,  creates  one  of  the 
most  important  opportunities  for  service  to  American  agriculture 
that  has  been  offered  in  many  years.  Already  the  grain  elevators 
and  the  mills  grinding  over  one  hundred  barrels  of  flour  per  day 
have  been  placed  under  license  by  the  Food  Administration.  The 
licensing  of  other  agencies  of  distribution  is  at  present  under  con- 
sideration. Because  of  their  peculiar  nature  the  produce,  vegetable 
and  fruit  trades  are  subject  to  certain  evils  which  restrict  the  free 
distribution  of  foodstuffs  and  thus  discourage  producers.  These 
can  readily  be  overcome  by  a  system  of  federal  hcensing  and 
supervision  for  which  there  now  exists  authority  of  law.  The  best  i 
members  of  the  fruit  and  vegetable  trade,  as  well  as  many  of  the 
butter,  poultry  and  egg  trade,  have  long  been  in  favor  of  such  a' 
licensing  system  and  many  of  them  have  openly  advocated  it. 

Licensing  in  itself  will  accomplish  nothing  unless  it  is  combined 
with  a  certain  amount  of  supervision.  This  supervision  would 
necessitate  the  establishment  of  standard  systems  of  accounting- 
and  of  standard  business  practices,  with  a  certain  amount  of  regular; 


Production  and  Marketing  Plans  for  Next  Year    179 

inspection,  tosee  that  licensed  merchants  carried  out  their  business 
in  accordance  with  these  standards. 

By  means  of  the  standard  systems  of  accounting  and  standard 
business  practices  which  all  licensees  should  be  required  to  install 
and  maintain,  the  following  results  would  be  accomplished: 

1.  "Fly  by  night"  concerns,  which  are  now  all  too  common  in 
the  produce  business,  would  be  eliminated.  These  are  concerns 
which  establish  themselves  in  business  at  various  points,  and  solicit 
consignments  by  means  of  attractive  advertising.  After  a  short 
period  they  may  disappear  entirely,  leaving  no  money  behind  and 
owing  much  to  various  shippers.  The  legitimate  trade  earnestly 
desires  to  see  these  concerns  eliminated.  It  is  only  because  of  the 
peculiar  nature  of  the  fruit  and  produce  business  that  they  are  able 
to  exist  at  all. 

2.  By  means  of  the  standard  system  of  accounting  which 
licensees  should  be  required  to  install,  and  by  means  of  occasional 
inspection  of  books  by  government  representatives,  the  making  of 
dishonest  returns  will  be  reduced  to  a  minimum.  The  making  of 
dishonest  returns  is  a  practice  which  is  steadily  decreasing,  but  it  is 
still  all  too  prevalent. 

3.  By  means  of  regulations  enforced  under  a  license,  prompt 
returns  to  shippers  could  be  enforced.  A  certain  element  of  the 
trade  customarily  delays  returns  beyond  a  reasonable  length  of 
time. 

4.  Another  evil  which  could  be  eliminated  would  be  the  averag- 
ing of  returns  to  all  shippers.  Many  houses  that  are  otherwise 
rehable  do  not  keep  accurate  records  and  at  the  end  of  the  day's 
business  average  all  sales  of  any  commodity,  such  as  strawberries 
for  instance,  and  return  to  shippers  the  same  price  regardless  of  the 
quality  of  their  berries  or  the  price  obtained  for  each  shipper's  par- 
ticular lot. 

5.  Regulation  of  licensees  would  prevent  the  making  of  charges 
for  hauling,  packing  and  other  services  which  are  not  actually  per- 
formed. Many  firms  supposed  to  be  reputable  make  a  practice  of 
adding  extra  charges  for  services  which  are  not  performed,  and  on 
certain  markets  many  firms  actually  depend  upon  their  hauling 
charges  for  their  profits,  charging  an  exorbitant  rate  per  package. 
The  practice  of  making  a  hauling  charge  has  become  so  common 
in  some  markets  that  practically  all  shipments  have  this  charge 
made  against  them,  whether  the  service  was  actually  performed  or 
not. 

6.  By  a  system  of  licensing  the  practice  of  charging  varying 
rates  of  commission  to  different  shippers  would  be  eliminated. 
Some  otherwise  reputable  firms  make  a  practice  of  charging  "all 
the  traffic  will  bear."  Commission  men  are  actually  performing  a 
public  service,  and  should  treat  all  shippers  alike. 


180  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

7.  By  means  of  standard  systems  of  accounting  and  business 
practices  prescribed  for  licensees,  the  practice  of  making  rebates 
would  be  eliminated.  ]\Iany  otherwise  reputable  firms  consistently 
rebate  3  per  cent  of  gross  sales  to  association  managers  who  ship 
carloads  of  goods  to  them  for  sale  for  the  account  of  their  association. 
This  is  little  less  than  bribery  and  the  expense  involved  must  ulti- 
mately come  out  of  the  pockets  of  the  growers  and  consumers. 

8.  The  practice  of  "buying  in"  for  the  account  of  the  receiver 
large  quantities  of  goods  received  on  commission,  and  afterwards 
selling  them  at  much  higher  prices,  would  be  eliminated.  Certain 
firms  who  are  large  receivers  of  consigned  goods  often  purchase 
them  outright  when  the  market  is  low,  and  hold  them  for  a  short 
time,  selling  them  for  much  higher  prices.  No  one  should  be  al- 
lowed to  purchase  a  producer's  goods  at  the  same  time  that  he  is 
acting  as  agent  for  the  producer. 

9.  Commission  charges  are  usually  made  for  services  rendered 
in  selling  consigned  goods  on  a  jobbing  basis.  Through  custom 
it  has  become  almost  the  general  practice  to  sell  all  goods  at  a 
jobbing  price,  and  when  small  lots  are  sold  at  a  somewhat  higher 
price  many  firms  pocket  the  difference  between  the  jobbing  and  the 
so-called  retail  price.     Regulation  of  licensees  would  eliminate  this. 

10.  It  is  almost  the  universal  practice  of  firms  receiving  goods 
on  commission  to  "buy-in"  any  few  packages  left  over  from  full 
carloads  of  consigned  goods  which  may  not  have  been  sold  at  the 
end  of  the  day's  business,  in  order  to  make  prompt  returns.  As  a 
rule  these  goods  are  resold  at  the  same  price  for  which  they  are 
bought  in,  but  sometimes  a  good  profit  is  obtained  on  these  left- 
overs. Standard  practices  prescribed  for  licensees  would  prevent 
this. 

11.  Many  aucJ.ion  companies  now  acting  as  agents  for  shippers 
are  owned  by  members  of  the  trade.  All  auction  companies  make 
a  terminal  charge  of  a  few  cents  per  package,  which  charge  is  paid 
by  the  purchaser.  Some  are  alleged  to  give  special  privileges  in  the 
matter  of  terminal  charge  rebates  to  their  own  stockholders.  As 
the  auction  companies  are  essentially  public  service  corporations, 
they  should  treat  all  patrons  alike.  These  practices  could  be  elimi- 
nated through  the  licensing  of  auction  companies. 

12.  The  practice  of  making  rejections  of  carloads  of  goods 
purchased  subject  to  inspection  because  of  a  declining  market  and 
upon  technical  grounds  is  verj'-  common.  Licensed  merchants 
could  be  controlled  in  this  respect  and  unfair  rejections  by  them  be 
avoided. 

13.  Any  steps  to  be  taken  in  actual  food  control  will  neces- 
sarily utilize  existing  machinery.  A  license  system  will  form  the 
basis  of  work  to  be  carried  out  in  this  connection,  and  contacts 
with  the  trade  will  be  established  and  accurate  lists  will  be  ready, 
if  there  is  need  for  them- 


An  Agricultural  Policy  for  the  United  States      181 

A  correctly  conceived  and  properly  executed  licensing  of  the 
agencies  of  distribution  will  relieve  the  honest  majority  of  the 
trade  of  the  evil  practices  of  the  minority.  It  will  furnish  a  dis- 
interested agency  through  which  they  can  in  the  future  expect  to 
be  relieved  of  much  odium  and  unfair  criticism  that  has  been 
leveled  at  merchants  engaged  in  the  distribution  of  perishable 
food  products.  Taken  together  with  the  inspection  of  foods  de- 
scribed above  we  may  fairly  look  to  a  new  era  in  perishable  dis- 
tribution. 


AN  AGRICULTURAL  POLICY  FOR  THE  UNITED 
STATES  IN  WAR  TIME 

By  Gifford  Pinchot, 
President  of  the  Pennsylvania  Rural  Progress  Association. 

One  of  the  outstanding  facts  which  is  least  recognized  among 
the  great  facts  that  this  war  is  gradually  forcing  upon  the  atten- 
tion of  the  world — perhaps  the  outstanding  fact  of  all — is  that  the 
world  will  never  be  the  same  again;  in  fact  the  change  has  already 
been  made.  We  have  passed  already  into  a  new  world  order  which 
has  laid  the  foundations  of  a  new  point  of  view  not  only  in  world 
affairs  but  in  national  and  civic  affairs  as  well. 

I  do  not  mean  by  a  "new  point  of  view,"  a  view  that  has  never 
been  advocated  before,  but  a  view  that  has  never  before  been 
widely  adopted;  and  that  view,  if  a  conservationist  may  say  so,  is 
the  point  of  view  of  the  conservation  policy.  It  is  the  point  of 
view  of  planned  and  orderly  development  to  reach  distant  ends. 

Hitherto,  in  all  our  national  affairs,  we  have  gone  where  the 
pressure  was  least.  I  do  not  say  that  as  a  criticism;  I  state  it  as  a 
fact.  It  is  necessarily  so  in  the  early  stages  of  any  civilization. 
We  have  yielded  to  the  thrust  that  sent  us  this  way  or  that  way 
without  accepted  plan  or  definite  conception  of  where  we  were  going, 
and  this  has  led  us,  as  it  necessarily  has  led  every  other  nation  in  a 
similar  stage  of  development,  to  haphazard  excursions  in  this 
direction  and  in  that.  The  condition  which  we  have  now  reached, 
not  only  in  agriculture  but  in  every  phase  of  our  national  life,  is  a 
result  far  more  of  the  action  of  forces  which  we  did  not  count  upon 


182  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

in  advance  than  it  is  of  any  planned  and  definite  effort  to  reach  any- 
definite  condition  by  following  any  definite  line. 

Is  it  desirable  to  reverse  this  national  habit  of  mind?  The  an- 
swer is  that  perhaps  this  is  an  academic  question,  for  we  have 
been  forced  into  a  set  of  circumstances  which  compel  us  to  adopt 
a  new  point  of  view.  We  have  reached  a  situation  in  which  the 
indispensable  basis  of  national  survival  is  a  higher  degree  of  national 
efficiency  than  we  have  yet  sought  and  a  more  conscious  pursuit  of 
distant  aims  than  has  ever  been  characteristic  of  the  American 
people.  We  are  thrown  into  a  world  order  molded  upon  a  plane  of 
efficiency  such  as  we  in  the  United  States,  efficient  as  we  have  been 
in  many  respects,  have,  in  my  judgment,  never  conceived  to  be 
possible. 

We  shall  find  ourselves,  after  the  war,  forced  into  competition 
for  commercial  survival  with  nations,  driven  by  the  pressure  of 
debts  unimagined  before  into  an  absolute  necessity  for  conquering 
foreign  trades  as  the  first  means,  after  food,  of  self-preservation. 
In  order  to  hold  our  position  we  shall  be  compelled,  in  my  judgment, 
to  reorganize  our  national  point  of  view  Und  plan  where  we  mean  to 
go,  instead  of  allowing  ourselves  to  drift  where  it  is  easiest  to  go,  as 
we  have  done  about  so  many  things  in  so  many  directions. 

If  that  is  true,  have  we  reached  a  stage  where  the  adoption  of 
a  definite  agricultural  policy  for  the  United  States  is  demanded? 
Is  such  a  policy  possible?  It  seems  to  me  to  be  inevitable  in  view 
of  the  known  facts  of  the  world's  situation. 

The  essential  consideration,  as  I  see  it,  is  the  change  in  the 
direction  of  agriculture  in  the  nations  that  are  at  war,  because  of 
facts  brought  about  by  the  war.     What  I  mean  is  this: 

The  world  is  short  of  livestock.  Mr.  Hoover's  figures  give  us 
a  world  deficiency  of  28,000,000  cattle,  32,000,000  hogs  and  54,- 
000,000  sheep;  or  a  total  shortage  of  livestock  in  the  world  of  about 
115,000,000  head.  The  submarine  warfare  means  that  we  can  no 
longer  supply  to  the  nations  of  Europe  the  additional  feeds  required 
in  the  past  to  keep  their  supply  of  domestic  animals  up  to  its  normal 
point. 

For  example,  an  embargo  has  just  been  placed  on  cotton-seed 
cake,  of  which  we  have  been  shipping  abroad  a  million  tons  a  year. 
That  means  a  reduction  in  cattle  abroad.  We  can  no  longer  ship 
corn  as  we  used  to  do.     That  fact  is  reflected  in  the  EngUsh  govern- 


An  Agricultural  Policy  for  the  United  States      188 

ment's  decision  to  reduce  English  cattle  on  a  very  considerable 
scale. 

The  French  supply  of  livestock  is  short  already.  Since  the 
beginning  of  the  war,  it  has  fallen  below  the  pre-war  average  16  per 
cent  in  cattle,  33  per  cent  in  sheep,  and  38  per  cent  in  hogs;  and 
similar  figures  might  be  adduced  for  other  countries. 

The  first  fact  then,  as  I  see  it,  is  the  large  shortage,  and  the 
necessity  for  an  increase,  in  livestock  abroad. 

The  second  fact  is  that  after  the  war,  European  farmers  will 
be  forced  in  the  direction  of  grain  production.  They  will  have  less 
stock  to  eat  their  feed;  therefore  they  will  grow  less  feed.  They 
will  have  a  larger  demand  for  grain  for  human  food;  therefore  they 
will  grow  more  grain.  In  other  words,  the  agricultural  policy  of 
the  European  nations,  from  the  very  nature  of  the  situation,  will  be 
driven  in  the  direction  of  grain  rather  than  livestock. 

What  then  ought  we  to  do  both  in  relation  to  what  they  are 
going  to  do  and  to  our  own  situation  here? 

Our  first  great  contribution  to  the  war  is  food,  and  of  food, 
wheat  first  of  all.  We  shall  doubtless  produce  next  year  a  crop  of 
wheat  so  large  that  it  may  reach  even  a  billion  bushels.  In  other 
words,  our  own  coming  increase  in  wheat,  coupled  with  the  certainty 
of  larger  European  production  of  wheat  after  the  war,  fairly  re- 
moves the  wheat  question  from  the  debatable  field. 

But  not  livestock.  What  is  our  own  situation  in  livestock? 
The  first  great  fact  is — and  it  is  true  also  of  grains — that  our  per 
capita  production  has  dropped.  There  has  been  within  the  last 
year  or  two,  however,  no  decrease — indeed,  a  slight  increase — in 
absolute  numbers.  For  example,  we  have  102  per  cent  this  year 
of  the  cattle  that  we  had  last  year,  and  103  pei;  cent  of  dairy  cows. 
There  has  been  a  slight  decrease,  amounting  to  only  300,000,  in  the 
number  of  hogs. 

In  addition,  then,  to  considerations  arising  from  the  European 
nations,  we  find  ourselves  faced  in  this  country  with  a  situation 
which  leads  to  the  belief  that  we  shall  have  a  very  alarming  short- 
age of  livestock  in  the  near  future. 

Take,  for  example,  the  question  of  hogs.  In  Iowa,  the  greatest 
hog  producing  state,  estimates  show  there  are  20  per  cent  less  hogs 
now  than  there  were  a  year  ago;  in  Missouri,  18  per  cent  less,  in 
the  United  States,  as  a  whole,  about  7,000,000  fewer  hogs  than  a 
year  ago. 


184  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

Why?  Because  of  a  doubt  on  the  part  of  the  farmer  that  it 
will  pay  to  raise  hogs.  The  high  price  of  grain,  coupled  with  the 
uncertainties  of  the  market,  has  persuaded  the  farmers  of  a  large 
part  of  this  country  that  it  is  not  worth  their  while  to  raise  more 
pigs.  The  result  appears  in  an  immediate  decrease,  which  will  be 
reflected  in  a  shortage  in  supply  later  on,  just  when  the  war  demands 
a  very  large  increase. 

The  question  is  not  merely  one  of  keeping  our  normal  amount 
of  livestock  or  producing  our  normal  amount  of  meat  and  especially 
of  pork  products.  It  is  a  question  of  very  largely  increasing  that 
supply,  just  exactly  as  it  was  in  the  matter  of  wheat,  because  it  is 
necessary  in  order  to  win  the  war.  Without  it  we  handicap  our 
allies  and  we  endanger  the  winning  of  the  war.  Yet  as  things  stand 
today  we  face  the  probability  not  merely  of  no  increase  in  pork 
products,  but  in  the  face  a  tremendously  nhanced  demand,  we 
face  an  actual  decrease. 

Take  now  the  matter  of  beef  cattle  in  the  west.  Last  winter 
was  a  very  hard  one.  The  losses  were  very  large.  In  Texas  the 
drought  of  this  summer  has  resulted  in  sending  prematurely  to 
market  large  numbers  of  cattle  and  in  the  death  of  very  many 
others;  and  such  examples  might  be  multiplied.  So  in  beef  cattle 
also,  we  find  ourselves  threatened  with  a  decrease,  both  because  of 
bad  seasons  and  because  of  the  farmers'  doubts.  Will  it  be  worth 
while,  for  example,  for  the  man  in  Nebraska  to  buy  "feeders"  from 
the  west,  feed  them  on  corn  and  ship  them  to  the  Chicago  market 
as  fat  stock?  There  is  doubt  whether  that  operation  will  pay,  and 
that  doubt  is  reflected  now  in  the  difference  on  the  Chicago  market 
between  the  price  of  finished  cattle  and  the  price  of  feeders  and 
stockers,  because  th£  demand  for  the  latter  is  abnormally  small  for 
this  time  of  year. 

Again,  take  the  matter  of  dairy  cattle.  We  have  some  22,000,- 
000  dairy  cattle  in  this  country.  Nearly  a  fifth  of  the  daiiy  herds, 
on  the  average  all  through  the  country,  go  to  the  slaughter  every 
year.  The  exact  figure  in  New  York  State  seems  to  be  17  per  cent. 
In  New  York  it  was  found  that  between  April  first  of  this  year  and 
April  first  of  last  year,  the  number  of  dairy  cattle  going  to  the  slaugh- 
ter, in  addition  to  the  normal  17  per  cent,  amounted  to  an  extra  14 
per  cent,  due,  in  brief,  to  the  high  cost  of  production.  A  still  more 
serious  situation  was  revealed  when  it  was  found  that  where  a  year 


An  Agricultural  Policy  for  the  United  States      185 

ago  there  were  300,000  heifers  being  raised  for  dairy  use,  this  year 
there  are  in  round  numbers,  only  225,000  or  one-quarter  less. 

In  sheep  the  losses  have  been  very  heavy  from  the  hard 
winter  in  the  west;  and  a  great  majority  of  the  sheep,  about  two- 
thirds  of  them,  are  west  of  the  one  hundredth  meridian.  The 
crop  of  lambs,  roughly  speaking,  is  said  to  be  about  50  per  cent  of 
the  normal,  and  in  addition  to  that  very  large  numbers  of  the  lambs 
have  gone  under  contract  into  the  hands  of  feeders,  so  that  fewer 
of  them  will  be  raised  than  usual.  We  have  fewer  sheep  in  the 
United  States,  and  at  the  same  time  an  enormous  rise  in  the  price 
of  wool  and  in  the  necessity  for  wool  for  war  purposes. 

All  this  seems  to  me  to  point  to  a  simple  conclusion,  which  is 
that  the  world  situation,  the  American  situation,  and  the  demands 
of  the  war  all  point  to  the  necessity  for  a  very  large  emphasis  upon 
livestock  production  as  against  grain  production  in  the  United 
States. 

It  is  true,  of  course,  that  the  various  parts  of  the  country  must 
produce  what  their  physical  conditions  prescribe.  You  cannot 
raise  peanuts  in  North  Dakota  nor  truck  in  the  Panhandle  of 
Texas.  But  there  is  an  enormous  area  in  the  country  in  which  one 
product  or  another  can  be  increased  as  the  needs  arise;  and  in  that 
area,  which  is  abundantly  sufficient  to  supply  all  we  need  in  the 
way  of  increased  livestock  production — in  that  area,  as  I  see  it, 
the  need  for  more  livestock  is  greater  than  the  need  for  more  grain. 

In  spite  of  early  frosts  we  are  likely  to  have  in  our  corn  crop  the 
largest  crop  of  any  grain  ever  raised  in  any  country  at  any  time 
since  the  world  began.  The  estimate  of  three  and  one-quarter 
billion  bushels  allowed,  I  am  informed,  for  a  certain  amount  of 
damage  from  frost,  and  the  chances  were  if  there  had  been  no  frost 
the  total  crop  might  have  amounted  to  3,800,000,000  or  even 
4,000,000,000  bushels. 

There  is  likely  to  be  a  very  considerable  surplus.  Feed  for 
livestock  will  be  in  excess  of  animals  to  consume  it.  Thus  it  is 
estimated  by  a  man  who  ought  to  know  that  the  south  will  produce 
this  year,  beyond  the  supply  required  to  feed  all  its  livestock, 
feed  sufficient  for  500,000  head.  In  the  south,  in  the  corn  belt,  and 
elsewhere,  we  shall  have  an  exceedingly  heavy  corn  crop  and  rough- 
age enough  to  supply  and  more  than  supply  all  the  livestock  we 
can  put  upon  it. 


186  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

Obviously,  then,  the  situation  points  to  that  form  of  agriculture 
which,  in  addition  to  all  the  considerations  I  have  mentioned,  has 
this  other  striking  advantage  in  time  of  war,  that  it  can  be 
handled  with  a  smaller  expenditure  for  labor  than  any  other.  You 
can  raise  more  agricultural  products  in  the  form  of  Hvestock  with 
less  man  power  than  you  can  grain,  as  everyone  knows. 

So  the  elements  which  indicate  strong  emphasis  on  an  agri- 
cultural policy  of  promoting  livestock  production  are  briefly :  abun- 
dance of  feed,  insuring  relative  cheapness;  shortage  of  agricultural 
labor,  necessarily  resulting  in  a  premium  on  meat  products  rather 
than  on  grain;  a  shortage  of  all  kinds  of  livestock  as  measured  by 
the  certain  demand,  which  means  good  prices  for  the  producer; 
the  demand  for  a  large  increase  in  exports  of  meat  (we  have  been 
exporting  200  or  300  per  cent  more  pork  products  than  we  did  be- 
fore the  war,  and  we  must  export  still  more,  which  furnishes  addi- 
tional reason  why  prices  should  be  high);  and  the  fact — and  it  is  a 
very  important  one — that  even  if  there  were  no  war,  to  export  meats 
is  vastly  wiser  than  to  export  grains.  For  when  you  export  wheat, 
you  export  soil  fertility  with  it.  When  you  export  meats  you 
create  fertility  and  keep  it  at  home;  so  that  the  future  richness  of 
the  land  argues  likewise  for  livestock  as  the  trend  which  we  ought 
to  follow  in  our  agricultural  policy. 

The  essential  lesson  of  the  war,  as  I  have  tried  to  indicate, 
seems  to  me  to  be  that  teamplay,  to  a  degree  hitherto  unknown, 
has  become  the  indispensable  condition  of  national  success.  If, 
then,  we  are  to  stimulate  agriculture  in  the  United  States,  and  if  the 
trend  of  our  agricultural  policy  looks  toward  livestock  rather  than 
toward  grain,  then  it  is  absolutely  essential  to  bring  to  that  stimu- 
lation this  same  point  of  view  of  teamplay.  Therefore  the  organi- 
zation of  American  farmers  has  become  indispensable.  The 
spread  of  cooperation  among  the  producers  of  livestock  and  of 
grains  on  the  farm  is  an  essential  factor  in  winning  the  war. 

The  farmer  is  a  business  man  like  any  other.  He  is  in  busi- 
ness to  support  his  family.  It  is  true  that  he  earns  a  very  much 
smaller  return  than  any  other  business  man— probably  less  than 
$400  a  year  in  money  for  his  work.  He  has,  in  addition,  a  house  to 
hve  in  and  produce  from  the  farm  worth  perhaps  a  couple  of 
hundred  dollars  in  cash. 

The  farmer,  like  anybody  else,  will  remain  in  the  business,  or  in 


An  Agricultural  Policy  for  the  United  States       187 

any  particular  part  of  the  business,  just  in  proportion  to  the  cliance 
he  has  of  making  a  living.  He  will  be  guided  in  his  business,  like 
any  other  business  man,  by  his  chance  of  profit  and  success.  He 
will  trend  toward  grain,  livestock,  truck,  other  conditions  being 
equal,  according  to  his  belief  that  there  is  in  any  one  of  these  lines 
a  reasonable  return  for  his  labor  and  his  investment. 

We  have  dealt  with  the  farmer  for  years  as  if  he  were  a  fixture 
that  could  not  move  away;  as  if  he  were  a  mere  maker  of  agricultural 
products,  and  not  a  man  with  a  family  to  whom  the  ordinary  human 
considerations  are  just  as  important  as  they  are  to  anybody  else. 
Now  we  have  come  to  the  time  when  the  nation  as  a  whole  must 
recognize  the  dominating  position  which  has  come  to  the  man 
who  produces  food  from  the  soil.  Although  our  population  is  but 
one-third  agricultural  and  two-thirds  industrial,  still  the  emphasis 
today  is  on  the  man  who  grows  things  out  of  the  ground  rather  than 
on  the  man  who  makes  things  in  a  factory. 

If  it  is  true  that  the  general  lines  of  policy  I  have  tried  to  out- 
line are  sound,  then  the  time  has  come  when  a  reconstruction  of 
the  national  point  of  view  about  agriculture  is  absolutely  essential. 
Not  less  so  is  the  reconstruction  of  the  farmer's  point  of  view  about 
himself.  The  introduction  of  cooperative  methods  among  producers 
is  absolutely  vital  to  success  in  our  agricultural  policy. 

An  integral  part  of  the  success  of  any  agricultural  policy  we  may 
adopt  must  be  the  recognition  of  the  dominant  part  the  farmer  is 
playing  in  the  affairs  of  this  country  and  of  the  world.  He  has  been 
set  aside.  He  has  not  had  his  fair  share  of  influence  in  the  govern- 
ment, nor  his  fair  share  in  the  benefits  of  government,  and  he  is  be- 
ginning to  understand  it  and  to  consider  what  he  shall  do  about  it. 

If  we  are  to  meet  the  obligations  that  have  been  imposed  upon 
us  by  the  war,  the  first  of  which  is  the  production  of  food  on  a  large 
scale,  we  must  do  three  things:  first,  direct  our  efforts  mainly  toward 
livestock  rather  than  mainly  toward  grain;  second,  convince  the 
agricultural  producers  of  this  country  that  their  efforts  in  produc- 
ing livestock  will  be  met  by  a  fair  remuneration  when  that  livestock 
comes  to  be  marketed;  and  third,  see  to  it  that  the  farmer  has  what 
he  has  never  had  sufficiently  before,  his  fair  and  reasonable  share 
and  part  in  determining  the  plans  and  policies  of  the  country,  of 
which  he  forms  the  underlying  and  most  essential  part. 


188  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


THE  IMPORTANCE  OF  MILK  AS  A  FOOD 

By  W.  H.  Jordan, 
Director,  New  York  Agricultural  Experiment  Station. 

This  people  is  now  taking  account  of  its  resources,  and  in  our 
analysis  of  the  situation  forced  upon  us  by- the  demands  of  war  we 
have  discovered  some  of  our  weaknesses.  One  of  these  is  the  woeful 
lack  of  knowledge  of  nutrition,  and  another  is  that  we  are  beyond 
all  measure  a  wasteful  people.  The  war  is  a  great  national  calam- 
ity, but  in  the  midst  of  its  evils  there  will  come  to  us  certain  benefits 
which  in  part  will  be  the  great  awakening  we  have  had  to  our  bad 
eating  habits,  our  poor  economy  and  our  lack  of  an  efficient  admin- 
istration of  our  food  supplies. 

The  great  problem  which  really  faces  us  is  both  the  production 
of  food  energy  and  its  utilization  in  such  a  way  as  will  secure  the 
maximum  benefit.  While  we  must,  of  course,  consider  the  construc- 
tive value  of  foods  and  certain  peculiar  physiological  relations,  the 
dominant  question  relates  to  the  store  of  energy  or,  using  a  more 
common  term,  of  fuel  with  which  to  maintain  human  activities 
both  at  the  seat  of  war  and  with  our  own  people. 

We  naturally  ask  then  what  production  most  fully  conserves 
our  resources.  I  am.  convinced  that  the  dairy  industry  should  re- 
ceive unusual  consideration  and  encouragement  under  the  circum- 
stances in  which  we  find  ourselves.  My  reasons  for  my  belief  are 
these : 

First.  It  has  been  shown  beyond  question,  as  Dr.  McCoUum 
has  pointed  out,^  that  milk  is  an  exceedingly  important  food  for  all 
of  us  and  especially  for  young  children  and  all  persons  who  have  not 
reached  the  adult  stature.  This  is  true  because  it  contains  certain 
essential  compounds,  the  nature  of  which  is  not  known,  that  are 
absolutely  necessary  to  growth — compounds  which  are  not  furnished 
in  such  abundance  in  any  form  of  meat  product.  The  state  which  I 
represent  has  approximatelj'^  eight  million  persons  in  its  cities,  and  it 
would  be  nothing  short  of  a  calamity  if  there  should  come  to  us  a 
milk  famine,  or  anything  approaching  it,  because  of  the  ejffect  upon 
the  physical  development  of  the  young  in  those  cities. 

^  See  page  95. 


1 


Milk  as  a  Food  189 

Second.  With  the  exception  of  pork,  in  which  the  fats  are  the 
dominant  compounds,  milk  is  the  cheapest  animal  food  in  the  market 
at  the  prices  which  now  prevail.  For  some  reason  the  public  is 
exceedingly  sensitive  to  any  increase  in  the  price  of  milk,  while  it 
treats  with  comparative  complacency  an  increase  in  the  cost  of 
meats,  flour  and  other  staple  products.  It  is  important,  therefore, 
if  we  are  to  maintain  the  necessary  supply  of  milk,  that  the  public 
"shall  be  educated  to  understand  its  relative  value.  A  celebrated 
authority,  Dr.  Graham  Lusk,  has  recently  stated  that  a  family  of 
five  cannot  afford  to  purchase  meat  until  it  has  bought  three  quarts 
of  milk. 

If  the  prevailing  cost  of  milk  production  continues,  producers 
must  receive  a  higher  price  if  the  output  is  to  be  maintained  at  its 
present  level  and  this  means  a  larger  cost  to  the  consumer  unless 
the  expense  of  distribution  is  reduced.  Consumers  are  urged  on  the 
ground  of  economy,  and  also  in  order  to  increase  our  export  of 
meats,  to  substitute  milk  for  meats  in  the  diet.  If  this  is  done,  milk 
production  must  be  increased.  Such  an  increase  will  be  accom- 
plished neither  by  declaring  this  to  be  a  governmental  pohcy  nor  by 
fixing  the  price  of  milk  unless  farmers  find  that  the  returns  from  their 
cows  allow  a  living  profit.  The  problem  is  therefore  a  consumer's 
problem  unless  the  cost  of  distribution  can  be  lessened. 

Third.  The  food  energy  of  milk  is  more  economically  produced 
than  is  the  edible  energy  in  any  other  animal  product,  with  possibly 
the  exception  of  pork.  This  is  equivalent  to  the  statement  that 
there  is  returned  for  human  utihzation  from  the  energy  of  the  forage 
and  grain  consumed  by  animals  a  larger  percentage  in  milk  than  in 
other  animal  products,  with  the  possible  exception  mentioned. 
There  is  abundant  data  to  show  that  the  cow  has  a  great  economic 
advantage  over  the  steer  as  a  food  producer. 

Some  years  ago  in  attempting  to  study  the  influence  of  food 
upon  the  composition  of  the  animal's  carcass,  I  grew  four  steers  on 
rations  that  were  accurately  measured  and  analyzed,  and  at  the 
end  of  varying  periods  the  animals  were  slaughtered  and  a  careful 
separation  and  analysis  was  made  of  the  edible  portion.  This  has 
enabled  me  to  calculate  the  relation  between  the  energy  of  the 
digestible  food  and  the  energy  in  the  edible  meat  product.  With 
the  younger  animals,  seventeen  months,  the  available  energy  con- 
sumed was  to  edible  energy  stored  as  11.6  is  to  1.     With  the  older 


190  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

animals,  twenty-seven  months,  the  available  energy  consumed  was 
to  the  edible  energy  stored  as  13.4  is  to  1.  The  energy  relations  in 
the  growth  of  the  last  ten  months  was  available  energy'-  consumed  to 
edible  energA'  stored  as  11  is  to  1.  If  we  consider  a  single  day's 
results  of  the  mature  animal  where  the  gain  is  two  pounds,  the 
available  energy  consumed  is  estimated  to  be  to  energy  stored  as  6 
is  to  1.  If  the  steers  which  were  analyzed  had  received  a  more 
intensive  ration  and  therefore  made  more  rapid  growth,  the  energy' 
cost  of  production  would  probablj^  have  been  reduced. 

At  the  New  York  Experiment  Station  records  were  made  of  the 
food  consumed  and  the  milk  produced  during  sixty  periods  of  lacta- 
tion, involving  twenty-seven  cows.  It  should  be  stated  that  these 
are  high  grade  cows  and  that  the  cost  of  production  with  such 
animals  reaches  its  minimum.  It  was  found,  however,  that  the  ap- 
proximate food  energy  cost  of  the  energy  stored  in  the  milk  solids 
was  approximately  as  3  is  to  1.  It  should  be  stated,  of  course,  that 
quite  a  large  part  of  the  food  of  both  steers  and  cows  is  forage,  which 
is  not  available  as  food  for  man,  and  therefore  the  energy  which  is 
stored  from  these  coarse  materials  is  so  much  gain  to  the  sum  of 
human  fuel.  This  is  quite  different  when  we  consider  the  consump- 
tion by  animals  of  the  cereal  grains  that  are  available  for  human 
consumption.  With  these  grains  a  greater  econom^^  is  reached  by 
the  production  of  dairy  products  than  of  meat  products.  It  is  a 
very  conservative  statement  to  assert  that  under  the  very  best 
possible  conditions  of  production  with  both  classes  of  animals,  the 
cow  is  more  than  twice  as  economical  in  her  use  of  food  energy  when 
we  consider  the  output  for  human  use  than  is  the  steer  or  sheep. 

I  am  convinced,  therefore,  that  in  the  eastern  portion  of  the 
countrj^  or  in  any  portion  where  large  populations  of  cities  are  to 
be  fed,  the  dairy  industry  should  be  encouraged  in  every  possible 
way,  not  only  because  of  the  essential  relations  of  milk  to  the  wel- 
fare of  growing  individuals  but  because  our  cheese  and  butter  should 
serve  a  useful  and  even  a  necessary  function  in  our  army  and  among 
the  people  with  whom  we  are  associated  in  this  great  conflict. 


Sheep  Industry  of  the  United  States  191 

THE  SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE   UNITED   STATES 

By  a.  C.  Bigelow, 
President,  Philadelphia  Wool  and  Textile  Association. 

We  have  been  forced  to  consider  the  fact,  emphasized  by  rising 
prices  during  the  past  few  years,  that  there  is  a  problem  before  us 
in  relation  to  the  food  and  clothing  supplies  for  our  population  of 
one  hundred  and  two  miUion  people  now  within  our  country.  The 
present  acute  situation  in  regard  to  our  food  supplies  and  our  sup- 
plies of  wool,  as  a  result  of  the  world  war,  is  simply  a  situation 
towards  which  we  have  been  gradually  but  inevitably  drifting  for 
years  past.  We  have  exhausted  the  areas  of  the  fertile  lands  which 
were  once  the  safety  valve  for  our  growing  population,  and  we  must 
now  obtain  a  greater  production  of  those  things  which  are  essential 
for  our  subsistence  by  an  increase  of  efficiency  and  inteUigent  devel- 
opment of  agricultural  methods.  We  shall,  moreover,  be  forced  to 
utihze  portions  of  our  country  which  have  beeil  previously  neglected 
for  the  more  accessible  and  more  fertile  portions  of  our  land.  A 
few  figures  will  illustrate  the  diminishing  per  capita  production  of 
some  of  our  leading  staples  and  exhibit  a  reason  for  the  advance  in 
the  cost  of  many  of  our  necessary  food  commodities.  During  the 
period  covered  by  the  last  census,  from  1900  to  1910,  I  submit  the 
following  figures: 

Acreage  under  cultivation  -per  capita:     A  decrease  of  10  per  cent 
Butter  production  per  capita:     A  decrease  of  10  per  cent 
Corn  production  /  cr  capita:    A  decrease  of  21  per  cent 
Oats  production  per  capita:     A  decrease  of   11  per  cent 
Wheat  production  per  capita:     A  decrease  of  15  per  cent 

The  decrease  in  the  number  of  sheep  per  1,000  population  from 
1900  to  1915  was  48  per  cent. 

It  is  probably  worth  while  to  explain  briefly  the  development 
of  the  sheep  industry  in  this  country.  As  you  will  readily  under- 
stand, it  was  natural  that  it  should  start  in  the  eastern  states,  as  the 
original  merino  sheep  came  mostly  to  us  from  Spain  in  the  early 
part  of  the  last  century.  The  New  England  states  in  the  early 
days  showed  quite  a  rapid  development,  and  Vermont  was  at  one 
time  a  large  sheep  producing  state.  In  that  state  the  number  of 
sheep  were  as  follows: 


192  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

Vermont 


Year 

Number  of  sheep 

1840 

1,681,819 

1860 

752,201 

1880 

439,870 

1915 

47,415 

Followmgtheadvance  westward  of  population,  sheep  were  largely 
kept  in  New  York,  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio.  During  the  ten  years 
from  1870  to  1880,  there  were  close  to  5,000,000  sheep  in  the  state 
of  Ohio.  In  1890  the  number  dropped  to  4,000,000,  while  in  1915 
they  were  reduced  to  2,100,000.  Still  advancing  westward,  and 
following  the  lures  of  cheaper  lands,  we  find  that  Texas  has  as 
follows : 

Texas  Year  Number  of  sheep 

1880  3,000,000 

1890  4,260,000 

But  with  the  advance  of  the  farming  element,  restricting  the 
areas  of  cheap  land,  Texas  dropped  in  1915  to  1,600,000  sheep. 
In  California  we  find  as  follows: 


California 

Year 

Number  of  sheep 

1880 

5,727,000 

1890 

3,373,000 

1915 

1,900,000 

During  this  period  it  should  be  noted  sheep  were  kept  for  the 
wool  product  alone.  We  were  educated  as  a  beef-eating  people, 
and  our  immense  supplies  of  cattle  made  beef  cheap.  Mutton  at 
this  time  was  an  insignificant  factor  in  the  profit  and  loss  account. 
This  situation  has  now  changed  completely.  The  supply  of  cattle 
is  decreasing  so  materially  that  beef  is  advancing  greatly.  Mutton 
and  lamb  have  been  improved  in  quality,  and  there  is  a  good  demand 
for  both  today.  Results  carefully  taken  at  the  Pennsylvania  State 
College  show  that  the  mutton  product  of  sheep  represents  about 
two-thirds,  while  wool  today  represents  about  one-third,  making 
wool  a  bj^-product;  so  that  the  market  fluctuations  in  wool,  which 
will  always  occur  to  a  certain  extent,  will  not  have  any  great  effect 
on  the  profit  account  of  the  sheep  industry. 

With  the  restriction  of  the  cheap  lands  in  Texas  and  California, 
the  bands  of  sheep  were  driven  up  into  the  mountainous  grazing 
limits  of  the  northwestern  section,  and  there  we  find  for  many  years 
a  great  increase  in  the  number  of  sheep,  especially  in  the  states  of 


Sheep  Industry  of  the  United  States  193 

Wyoming,  Idaho  and  Montana.  But  here,  too,  within  the  last 
few  years,  we  can  find  from  the  same  cause  a  decrease  in  the  flocks — 
the  homesteader  and  farmer  are  coming  in,  the  ranges  are  restricted 
and  production  has  decreased.  In  effect,  the  whole  industry  has 
moved  like  a  great  wave,  on  the  lines  of  least  resistance,  utilizing 
cheap  grazing  lands  as  long  as  they  were  cheap,  and  showing  a 
decrease  as  soon  as  they  w^ere  occupied  for  agricultural  purposes. 
The  great  northwestern  grazing  territory,  comprising  the  states  of 
Montana,  Idaho,  Wyoming  and  Oregon,  containing  vast  areas  of 
free  or  very  cheap  grazing  lands,  has  been  the  great  source  of  wool 
and  mutton  production  during  the  present  century.  These  four 
states  in  1916,  out  of  the  total  wool  cHp  of  the  United  States  of 
288,000,000  pounds,  produced  86,255,000  pounds,  or  about  30  per 
cent. 

There  has  been  during  the  past  seven  years,  however,  a  con- 
tinued shrinkage  in  the  production  from  these  four  states,  caused  by 
the  over-stocking  of  the  ranges.  During  the  session  of  the  last 
Congress  an  act  was  passed  opening  up  the  government  lands  in 
this  section  to  the  farmers  in  tracts  of  640  acres.  We  sent  a  special 
agent  into  this  section  to  make  a  survey  of  conditions  and  to  locate 
breeding  stock.  The  reports  we  have  received  from  him  and  from 
other  sources,  indicate  that  there  is  a  great  rush  of  farmers  coming 
into  this  section  and  taking  up  these  640-acre  tracts,  and  in  con- 
sequence the  range  is  being  broken  up  to  such  a  great  extent  that 
those  who  have  been  maintaining  sheep  there  are  being  forced  to 
dispose  of  their  flocks,  and  the  evidence  is  conclusive  that  there  will 
be  a  continuous  decrease  in  this  section.  It  is  quite  evident,  there- 
fore, that  the  population  of  the  United  States  will  be  seriouslj' 
affected  by  this  rapid  decline  in  this  great  sheep  territory.  There 
is  only  one  source  left  open  now  from  which  we  can  obtain  an  increase 
of  sheep  production,  and  that  is  in  the  farming  sections  east  of  the 
Mississippi  River,  and  in  the  unused  land  areas  of  the  south. 

In  all  matters  poHtical,  social  and  economic,  change  is  the  law 
of  the  universe.  As  in  the  past,  economic  conditions  operated  to 
drive  the  shepherd  of  the  East  out  of  business,  and  to  develop  the 
great  sheep  interests  of  the  western  grazing  lands,  so  today  again, 
economic  conditions  are  forcing  the  western  flockmaster  out  of 
business  and  opening  up  a  favorable  opportunity  for  the  profitable 
maintenance  and  development  of  the  sheep  industry  in  the  older 
sections,  which  have  been  so  long  neglected. 


194  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

The  situation  which  presents  itself  to  us,  therefore,  shows  that 
population  for  a  number  of  years  has  been  encroaching  upon  our 
production  of  food  and  of  wool  for  clothing.  It  shows  that  the 
conditions  brought  about  by  the  great  war  in  progress  have  devel- 
oped a  world  shortage  of  wool  supplies,  and  it  shows  that  our  own 
domestic  production  in  the  great  northwestern  territory  will  develop 
a  very  decided  decrease  from  that  section,  which  has  been  such  an 
important  factor  in  our  wool  production.  Based  on  all  the  premises 
submitted  regarding  the  extraordinary  market  which  will  be  opened 
for  wool  especially,  and  for  the  product  of  meat  which  our  rapidly 
increasing  population  must  have,  it  is  safe  to  assume  that  prices 
will  be  maintained  upon  a  very  high  level,  and  that  the  opportunity 
presents  itself  to  those  who  have  lands  suitable  for  the  maintenance 
of  sheep  to  engage  in  sheep  husbandry  as  a  very  profitable  business. 

I  have  touched  upon  sheep  husbandry  mainly  in  connection 
with  its  meat  and  wool  product.  There  is  another  consideration 
which  I  wish  to  emphasize,  and  that  is  that  the  sheep  is  known  to 
be  one  of  the  best  fertilizing  agents  of  any  kind  of  livestock.  This 
has  long  been  generally  recognized  by  shepherds,  and  their  apprecia- 
tion of  this  fact  has  been  shown  by  their  use  of  the  term  "The  Golden 
Hoof, "  as  applying  to  this  feature  of  sheep  husbandry  in  its  relation 
to  the  fertility  of  the  soil. 

The  leading  cause  for  the  decrease  in  the  sheep  population  in 
the  farming  sections  during  the  past  ten  years,  has  been  on  account 
of  the  depredations  of  dogs  upon  the  farmers'  flocks.  In  support  of 
this  statement  I  beg  to  quote  the  following  from  a  bulletin  issued 
by  the  United  States  Department  of  Agriculture: 

Sheep-killing  dogs  are  not  only  recognized  as  the  worst  enemy  of  eastern 
flockmasters  at  the  present  time,  but  are  known  to  be  the  principal  cause  of  so 
marked  a  decrease  in  the  number  of  sheep  kept  on  farms.  The  moral  effect  upon 
all  persons  who  have  seen  sheep  kiUed,  injured  or  frightened  by  dogs  is  far  more 
destructive  to  the  industry  than  the  actual  damage  sustained. 

The  evidence  is  conclusive  not  only  as  to  the  effect  on  the  sheep 
industry  in  oiir  farming  sections  in  the  past,  but  it  is  also  conclusive 
that  this  is  the  great  factor  which  is  now  deterring  our  eastern  farm- 
ers from  going  into  the  sheep  business  again.  It  seems  strange 
that  an  intelligent  nation  striving  for  efficiency  in  all  things,  should 
allow  a  useless  economic  parasite  like  the  dog  to  throttle  a  great 
industry,  and  yet  such  is  the  fact.     There  is  no  problem  more  neces- 


I 


Sheep  Industry  of  the  United  States  195 

sary  for  solution  today  than  this  problem  of  protection  of  sheep 
from  the  attack  of  dogs.  It  is  necessary  for  the  public  to  recognize 
this  situation  and  interest  themselves  to  see  that  there  are  proper 
laws  enacted  which  will  control  this  dog  menace.  It  is  not  only 
necessary  to  have  proper  laws  enacted,  but  public  sentiment  must 
see  that  these  laws  are  enforced.  No  other  animal  is  allowed  to 
roam  at  large  to  act  as  the  destroyer  of  the  property  of  citizens. 
The  aim,  therefore,  of  proper  legislation  should  be  that  those  who 
insist  upon  keeping  dogs  shall  keep  the  dogs  where  they  belong, 
and  that  is  upon  their  own  premises  or  under  their  direct  control. 
The  fundamental  basis  of  the  social  fabric  is  that  every  citizen  is 
entitled  to  the  protection  of  the  law  for  his  life  and  for  his  property. 
The  fundamental  basis  of  good  morals  is  that  no  one  has  the  right 
to  do  anything  which  will  do  damage  to  his  neighbor.  Let  him  who 
will,  keep  his  dog  and  enjoy  his  companionship.  We  will  concede 
all  of  his  good  points,  but  knowing  his  destructive  tendencies  and 
his  predatory  nature  which  he  has  inherited  from  his  wolfish  ances- 
tors, let  it  be  fully  recognized  that  the  dog  must  no  longer  be 
allowed  unbridled  liberty  to  follow  out  his  natural  instincts  of 
destruction.  Under  the  present  conditions  and  those  which  face  us 
for  the  future,  it  is  an  economic  crime  to  allow  the  dog  to  further 
handicap  the  development  of  an  industry  which  is  so  vital  to  the 
nation.  Great  areas  of  land  are  idle  and  unproductive  today  which 
can  produce  those  things  we  need.  The  decision  on  this  matter 
rests  with  the  people. 

The  Philadelphia  Wool  and  Textile  Association  started  its 
campaign  to  awaken  interest  in  the  sheep  industry  about  two  years 
ago.  It  has  been  necessary  to  overcome  the  inertia  of  twenty  years 
of  neglect  and  indifference.  A  wide  and  persistent  propaganda 
has  been  instituted  and  directed  to  awaken  the  interest  of  the 
public  to  this  as  an  economic  proposition,  and  to  awaken  the  interest 
of  the  farmer  to  this  industry  as  a  profitable  and  desirable  part  of 
agriculture.  It  has  been  recognized  that  it  is  necessary  to  develop 
this  proposition  on  broad,  intelhgent,  and  constructive  lines.  The 
present  generation  in  our  farming  communities  to  a  large  extent  do 
not  know  or  value  sheep,  for  the  older  shepherds  have  passed  away. 
It  is  evidently  desirable  that  the  boys  and  girls  of  the  coming  genera- 
tion should  be  educated  to  a  knowledge  of  and  a  love  for  this  useful 
animal.     One  of  the  lines  of  work  therefore  decided  upon,  is  to 


196  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

endeavor  to  provide  for  the  organization  and  development  of  as 
many  boys'  and  girls'  sheep  and  lambs  clubs  as  possible.  In  the 
old  days,  too,  there  was  no  proper,  scientific  recognition  of  the  value 
of  breeding.  The  influence  of  pure  bred  stock  and  its  value  was 
not  appreciated.  The  further  purpose  of  our  work  is  to  develop 
an  improvement  in  the  breeds  of  sheep  by  the  use  of  pure  bred 
stock  in  breeding,  and  in  connection  with  this,  to  obtain  a  better 
standardization  in  communities,  in  the  same  way  that  the  various 
sections  of  England  have  developed  a  standard  production,  the 
value  of  which  is  known  and  recognized.  It  is  recognized  also  that 
there  is  an  evident  necessitj^  for  an  improvement  in  the  system  of 
marketing  and  distribution,  both  for  lambs  and  for  wool.  To  effect 
this,  it  seems  highly  desirable  that  there  should  be  developed  to  the 
greatest  possible  extent  cooperative  associations  of  the  farmers. 
This  has  been  found  difficult  to  obtain  in  the  past,  and  will  un- 
doubtedly be  a  slow  process,  but  will  surely  be  accomplished  in  time. 

In  order  to  develop  better  marketing  facilities  for  the  wool 
product  for  the  farmer,  the  Philadelphia  Wool  and  Textile  Associa- 
tion has  estabhshed  The  Philadelphia  Wool  Auctions,  the  purpose 
of  which  is  to  provide  the  means  whereby  the  individual  farmer  or 
such  cooperative  associations  may  be  able  to  sell  their  wool  in  one 
of  the  great  primary  markets  of  distribution  at  public  sale  under 
open  competition  to  the  highest  bidder.  The  development  of  this 
proposition,  like  others  intended  for  this  purpose,  must  naturally 
be  slow,  but  it  seems  sound  and  logical  and  should  win  out  in  the 
end. 

The  stage  has  been  reached,  however,  at  the  present  time, 
where  the  value  of  sheep  is  being  recognized  by  the  eastern  farmers, 
and  they  are  desirous  of  obtaining  breeding  stock.  There  has  been 
but  one  source  of  supply  for  this  and  that  is  from  the  western  range. 
It  will  be  readily  understood  that  there  is  a  big  hiatus  between  the 
farmer  in  the  east,  who  desires  to  buy  a  small  flock  for  his  farm, 
and  the  far  distant  range,  where  the  sheep  are  maintained  in  flocks 
of  from  five  thousand  to  fifty  thousand.  In  order  to  bridge  this 
gap  and  to  afford  an  agency  by  which  a  transfer  could  be  made  of 
the  western  sheep  into  the  east,  and  the  distribution  made  as  wanted 
to  the  farmer,  the  Interstate  Livestock  Company  has  been  organized 
and  incorporated,  which  is  acting  as  the  financial  agency  for  this 
purpose. 


The  War  and  Our  Potato  Industry  197 

The  capital  of  the  Interstate  Livestock  Company  has  been  sub- 
scribed by  public  spirited  men  who  are  operating  this  company  on 
a  non-profit  basis.  Through  this  agency  breeding  sheep  have  been 
brought  in  large  quantities  from  the  western  range,  and  are  being 
distributed  throughout  the  eastern  farming  sections. 

The  effort  to  restore  sheep  husbandry  to  the  eastern  farms  has 
therefore  reached  a  definite,  practical  stage  of  operation.  There 
is  evidence  that  there  will  be  a  greater  appreciation  of  the  value  of 
this  industry  by  every  one.  Though  there  are  many  obstacles  and 
problems  in  the  way  to  be  solved  before  sheep  husbandry  will 
attain  its  full  development  in  our  farming  sections,  there  is  every 
hope  and  assurance  that  it  will  obtain  its  rightful  recognition  and 
be  restored  to  its  proper  status  in  connection  with  eastern  agricul- 
ture. It  will  not  be  accomplished  in  a  day  nor  in  a  year,  but  the 
logic  of  events  and  its  imperative  necessity,  are  bound  to  bring 
about  its  ultimate  establishment. 


THE   WAR  AND   OUR  POTATO   INDUSTRY 
By  Lou  D.  Sw^eet, 

Potato  Expert,  United  States  Food  Administration;  President  of  the  Potato 
Association  of  America. 

Our  entrance  into  the  war  against  Germany  brought  us  face  to 
face  with  serious  economic  problems — greater  problems  than  we 
were  ever  confronted  with  before  in  the  history  of  this  country.  One 
of  the  greatest  of  these  problems  was  that  of  our  food  supply.  Not 
only  did  it  become  necessary  for  us  to  produce  crops  sufficient  to  take 
care  of  our  own  needs,  but  coincident  with  our  alliance  with  the 
Entente  Allies  we  were  called  upon  to  supply  in  great  measure  the 
foods  needed  by  soldiers  and  civilians  of  the  allied  countries. 

Our  federal  Department  of  Agriculture  appealed  pointedly  to 
the  farmers  of  this  country  for  an  increased  production  of  all  food 
crops.  This  appeal  met  with  immediate  response,  often  accom- 
panied by  great  sacrifice  by  farmers  themselves  who  had  to  finance 
their  operations  with  borrowed  capital.  Particularly  in  the  case  of 
our  potato  crop  has  this  response  been  tremendously  patriotic;  an 
additional  seven  hundred  and  seventeen  thousand  acres  were  planted 
to  this  crop,  which  early  this  season  was  forecasted  by  our  federal 


198  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

Bureau  of  Crop  Estimates  to  yield  something  like  one  hundred  and 
seventeen  million  bushels  above  the  average  yields  for  the  period 
1911  to  1916. 

However,  this  emergency  crop  of  potatoes  did  not  have  the  bene- 
fit of  any  too  great  care  in  its  planting,  and  this  is  absolutely  no  re- 
flection upon  the  farmers  themselves.  Owing  to  the  high  price  of 
seed  potatoes  and  the  inadequate  supply,  seed  was  planted  which 
was  totally  unfit  for  use  as  such.  One  might  ssiy  that  culls  and  even 
peehngs  were  planted.  On  top  of  this  the  price  of  fertilizers  was  so 
abnormally  high  as  to  make  their  use  well  nigh  prohibitive.  Con- 
sequently, the  1917  potato  crop  has  been  produced  from  poor  seed, 
poorly  nourished,  and  therefore  does  not  give  any  too  great  promise  of 
exhibiting  high  keeping  qualities.  At  this  writing  the  harvest 
season  is  about  on.  Meanwhile  droughts,  late  blight  and  insect 
damage  have  greatly  reduced  the  crop  in  sight  below  that  which 
was  estimated  early  in  the  season.  And  yet  with  all  these  setbacks 
we  are  certain  to  have  a  crop  considerably  in  excess  of  the  average 
harvest  of  this  country. 

The  pressing  question  is:  now  that  we  have  raised  it,  what  are 
we  going  to  do  with  it?  This  late  potato  crop,  which  is  harvested 
over  a  period  of  six  weeks,  must  serve  as  a  great  factor  in  our  food 
supply  over  a  period  something  like  nine  months.  It  will  not  serve 
as  food  over  that  period  if  the  greatest  care  is  not  taken  in  its  har- 
vesting, storage  and  distribution,  and  this  brings  up  one  major  prob- 
lem in  the  war-made  economic  situation,  to  aid  in  solving  which  the 
United  States  Food  Administration  is  devoting  no  small  measure  of 
its  energy. 

Let  me  make  it  perfectly  clear  that  the  Food  Administration  does 
not  plan  to  handle  this  crop  in  the  sense  of  acting  as  purchaser  or 
distributor.  Only  in  the  case  of  wheat  has  the  administration  taken 
these  extreme  measures.  With  regard  to  the  potato  problem,  the 
Food  Administration  plans  to  assist  all  normal  machinery  having  at 
do  with  the  handling  of  this  crop  and  toward  securing  an  equitable 
distribution  of  it. 

An  equitable  distribution  means  more  than  most  of  us  imagine. 
It  means  that  the  farmer  who  has  produced  this  crop  must  receive 
for  it  a  price  which  will  repay  him  for  the  heavy  expense  of  its  pro- 
duction; otherwise  you  cannot  expect  him  to  plant  heavily  another 
year.  The  consumer  must  be  able  to  buy  potatoes  at  a  price  which 


I 


r 


The  War  and  Our  Potato  Industry"  199 


does  not  put  them  in  the  class  of  luxuries.  Between  those  two  ex- 
tremes lies  many  a  pitfall  which  can  wreck  the  hope  of  securing  these 
justices  for  either  producer  or  consumer,  or  both. 

I  have  tried  to  make  it  plain  that  the  Food  Administration  is 
attempting  to  cooperate  with  normal  business  agencies  for  securing 
the  best  possible  disposition  of  this  potato  crop.  It  has  called  to 
Washington  a  large  number  of  growers  and  distributors  to  discuss 
with  these  gentlemen  the  best  plans  toward  that  end.  And  it  has 
endeavored  to  impress  upon  these  gentlemen  that  the  only  way 
under  the  sun  that  these  results  can  be  achieved  is  through  a  whole- 
hearted spirit  of  service  on  their  part.  The  Food  Administration  is 
using  no  club,  it  merely  extends  to  every  factor  its  right  hand  of 
cooperation. 

It  has  been  definitely  decided  that  potato  distributors  will  be 
licensed.  The  trade,  generally,  seems  to  heartily  approve  of  this 
plan.  This  license  acts  as  a  safeguard  for  the  efficient  cooperating 
distributor's  efforts  against  unscrupulous  practices  which  occasion- 
ally break  out  and  now  would  nullify  the  best  endeavors. 

The  Food  Administration  does  not  discountenance  the  storing  of 
potatoes  for  the  purpose  of  assuring  the  market  an  even,  steady 
flow  of  that  food  product.  Only  in  the  case  of  storage  for  the  pur- 
pose of  bringing  about  an  abnormal  shortage  in  the  market  to  the 
end  of  influencing  prices,  will  the  Food  Administration  seek  recourse 
to  laws  which  will  enable  it  to  correct  such  abuses.  The  policy  of 
the  Food  Administration  is  strictly  a  constructive  one.  Its  legal 
powers  have  been  provided  simply  to  protect  the  cooperation  entered 
into  by  it  and  the  whole  trade. 

While  there  is  no  cure-all  for  the  problems  arising  in  connection 
with  the  disposition  of  this  potato  crop,  yet  there  are  a  number  of 
steps  which  may  be  taken  and  which  have  been  taken,  to  make  the 
solution  of  these  problems  just  a  bit  easier.  For  example,  it  was 
my  privilege,  in  a  measure,  to  influence  the  recent  ruling  of  the 
Federal  Reserve  Board  under  which  potatoes  properly  sorted  and 
graded  and  properly  stored,  will  furnish  adequate  security  for  ware- 
house receipts  negotiable  at  member  banks  at  a  rate  not  to  exceed  6 
per  cent,  including  all  commissions. 

To  make  such  a  ruling  work  out  successfully  rather  than  develop 
into  a  flat  fiasco,  we  must  have  some  standard  rules  for  grading  to 
tie  to.     In  cooperation  with  the  federal  Department  of  Agriculture, 


200  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

the  Food  Administration  has  worked  out  these  official  grades  which 
have  been  approved,  and  which  will  serve  as  a  basis  for  the  efficient 
operation  of  the  Federal  Reserve  ruling. 

Many  of  us  are  familiar  with  the  story  of  the  reclamation  proj- 
ects; many  of  us  know  of  the  near-tragedy  which  has  surrounded 
the  settlement  of  many  of  these  areas.  Pioneering  in  America  was 
not  ended  in  '49.  It  goes  on  today  on  these  projects,  and  I  know 
of  no  more  beautiful  example  of  American  aggressive  fortitude  than 
exemplified  in  the  daily  life  of  many  of  our  reclamation  settlers. 
So  many  of  these  settlers  are  heavily  in  debt  that  I  am  taking  this 
opportunity  to  record  what  to  my  mind  is  typical  of  America's 
response  to  the  President's  appeal  for  increased  production  of  food 
crops.  As  I  say,  many  were  heavily  in  debt,  but  they  have  borrowed 
money  to  increase  their  production  of  potatoes — borrowed  money 
for  Seed,  implements  and  labor.  Their  crops  have  been  good,  for 
many  of  the  projects  consist  of  the  best  potato  soil  in  this  country. 

When  harvest  was  about  to  come,  they  faced  inadequate  storage 
facilities  for  this  crop.  For  any  government  agency  to  advise  these 
people  that  the  thing  to  do  was  to  erect  sufficient  storage  capacity, 
would  have  been  about  as  helpful  to  them  as  a  treatise  on  dietetics 
would  be  to  a  starving  man.  They  would  have  built  additional 
storage  facihties  if  they  had  had  the  funds  to  do  it.  Secretary  Lane, 
of  the  Interior  Department,  with  the  Reclamation  Service  officials, 
stepped  into  this  breach  and  loaned  government  money  to  the  proj- 
ect settlers  to  take  care  of  this  problem.  The  large  shippers  of 
potatoes  off  these  projects  throughout  the  country  assure  us  that 
there  will  be  little  or  no  loss  on  this  crop  due  to  lack  of  storage  facili- 
ties. This,  of  course,  is  good  to  know.  It  takes  a  load  off  our 
minds. 

Early  this  season,  and  even  now  for  that  matter,  there  has  been 
a  more  or  less  general  thought  that  in  view  of  our  increased  produc- 
tion of  potatoes  it  would  be  necessary  and  highly  economical  to  put 
great  quantities  of  these  through  processes  of  dehydration.  The 
dehydrated  potato  is  merely  one  which  has  been  sliced  or  shredded, 
dried  of  practically  all  its  moisture,  and  so  put  in  a  form  to  keep 
well  nigh  indefinitely.  Dehydrated  products  lose  nothing  of  their 
original  nutritive  value,  but  they  do  lose  bulk  and  therefore  econo-. 
mize  in  the  matter  of  freight  charges  and  storage  space. 

During  the  Boer  War  the  British  government  had  prepared  for 


The  War  and  Our  Potato  Industry  201 

its  troops  tremendous  quantities  of  dehydrated  vegetables.  These 
were  usually  made  up  in  mixtures  of  potatoes,  onions,  carrots,  and 
the  like;  one  hundred  pounds  of  which  dried  product  are  said  to  have 
made  soup  rations  for  sixty-four  hundred  troops.  During  the  pres- 
ent war  certain  dehydrating  firms  in  this  country  and  Canada  have 
received  large  contracts  from  the  British  government  for  this  same 
product. 

In  the  Food  Administration  we  have  looked  carefully  into  the 
possibilities  of  taking  care  of  a  goodly  portion  of  our  surplus  potato 
crop  by  means  of  dehydration,  but  from  our  findings  we  are  not  in- 
clined to  recommend  the  investment  of  additional  capital  in  such 
enterprises.  As  a  matter  of  fact  one  firm  alone  in  this  country 
is  prepared  on  short  notice  to  furnish  up  to  several  million  pounds  of 
dehydrated  potatoes  monthly,  a  quantity  sufficient  to  care  for  any 
needs  of  our  army  or  navy.  Nor  is  there  at  present  any  great 
general  public  demand  for  this  product.  It  has  not  been  exploited, 
and  even  though  it  were  it  is  doubtful  if  housewives  would  prefer 
a  dry  product  to  the  fresh  one,  and  with  few  exceptions  the  fresh 
product  is  available  throughout  the  year. 

There  are  some  limited  outlets  for  the  surplus,  particularly  culls, 
in  the  manufacture  of  potato  starch  and  potato  starch  flour,  and 
potato  flakes  for  livestock  feed,  but  these  outlets  are  hmited.  So 
in  the  last  analysis  we  come  back  to  the  conclusion  that  the  greater 
proportion  of  this  crop  must  be  consumed  in  the  fresh  state  as  food 
for  human  beings.  These,  briefly,  are  some  of  the  problems  which 
the  administration  has  attacked. 

Because  my  experience  in  the  potato  industry  has  been  prima- 
rily that  of  a  grower,  instinctively  I  look  at  the  present  situation  from 
the  grower's  viewpoint,  and  I  can  see  a  number  of  tremendous 
lessons  which  this  war  is  teaching  potato  growers  of  this  country. 
It  has  shown  us  that  we  are  not  nearly  as  efficient  potato  growers  as 
we  should  be,  even  in  times  of  peace.  Our  yields  have  been  dis- 
couragingly  small  when  compared  with  those  of  other  countries. 
This  has  not  been  because  we  did  not  have  the  soil  or  the  practical 
knowledge  necessary  to  produce  larger  crops.  It  was  simply  be- 
cause we  have  allowed  ourselves  to  drift  along  in  a  rut.  Producing 
large  crops  per  acre  of  prime  potatoes  is  no  mysterious  process  to  be 
worked  out  by  black  magic.  It  merely  consists  in  first  building  up 
the  potato  soil,  and  then  giving  that  soil  the  right  seed  and  the  right 


202  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

treatment  after  the  seed  has  germinated.  A  potato  soil  must  have 
plenty  of  humus  and  all  other  forms  of  plant  food.  The  seed  itself 
must  not  be  left-over  degenerate,  but  a  seed  true  to  tj^pe  and  coming 
from  a  strain  that  is  vigorous  and  highly  productive.  That  sounds 
too  simple  to  warrant  serious  thought.  Just  these  simple  things  we 
have  overlooked,  and  we  will  have  to  go  back  to  them,  if  during  the 
war  and  after  the  war  we  expect  to  develop  our  potato  industry  to  a 
plane  of  greatest  efficiency. 

In  the  future  we  must  grade.  Those  of  us  in  the  business  know 
that  farmers  and  dealers  are  both  parties  to  the  wrong  when  it 
comes  to  a  total  absence  of  grading  in  many  cases,  or  careless  grading 
in  others.  If  one  competing  buyer  at  a  station  will  not  insist  upon 
the  farmers  bringing  in  graded  potatoes,  naturally  his  competitors 
will  have  to  buy  on  the  same  basis,  and  naturally  you  cannot  expect 
the  farmer  to  take  it  upon  himself  to  try  to  revolutionize  the  other 
end  of  the  business.  He  is  going  to  sell  what  the  other  man  will 
buy.  Human  nature  today  in  the  potato  game  is  human  nature 
before  Christ,  in  Babylon. 

And  the  more  we  grade,  the  more  culls  we  will  have,  and  the  more 
culls  we  have  the  more  we  will  have  to  find  a  place  for  them  other 
than  the  dump  pile.  Our  Department  of  Agriculture  has  found  that" 
the  cull  potatoes  when  properly  pdt  up  make  a  silage  the  feeding 
value  of  which  is  equal  to  that  of  corn  silage.  Poultry  investigators 
have  found  a  place  for  the  cull  potato  in  the  feed  ration  of  laying 
hens.  I  might  enumerate  a  great  many  other  uses  for  cull  potatoes 
but  that  is  beside  the  point.  The  point  is  that  we  must  encourage 
stricter  grading  with  its  consequent  increase  in  the  number  of  culls 
by  exploiting  legitimate  and  profitable  uses  for  this  cull  stock.  We 
are  investigating  these  uses  now  and  unquestionably  many  of  them 
will  be  of  great  value  during  this  war  emergency. 

But  if  we  let  it  stop  when  the  war  stops,  if  we  let  any  of  these 
agricultural  economic  reforms  lapse  when  peace  is  declared,  then 
we  will  have  killed  the  greatest  chance  for  agricultural  and  economic 
advancement  that  has  ever  been  open  to  us  since  Christopher 
Columbus  planted  his  foot  on  American  soil. 

It  is  a  good  thing  to  be  able  to  see  a  silver  lining  in  any  cloud. 
I  can  see  one  to  this  war  cloud,  and  it  is  made  up  of  the  reforms  and 
improvements  in  our  economic  and  social  structures  that  we  have  ^ 
had  to  design  so  as  to  meet  the  great  crisis,  and  my  one  hope  is  that 
these  improvements  will  stay  with  us. 


Urban  and  Suburban  Food  Production  203 


URBAN  AND   SUBURBAN   FOOD  PRODUCTION 

By  Charles  Lathrop  Pack, 
President,  National  Emergency  Food  Garden  Commission. 

My  friends,  I  rejoice  with  you  as  a  fellow-citizen  in  all  the  town 
and  city  people  of  our  country  are  doing  for  food  production  and  food 
conservation.  I  have  recently  seen  many  community  canneries 
so  ably  conducted  throughout  the  country  as  to  set  a  splendid 
example  of  productive  thrift. 

We  are  glad  that  the  housewife  is  doing  her  part  in  this  nation- 
wide, food-producing  and  food-conserving  movement.  The  work 
of  gardening,  of  canning  and  of  drying  vegetables  and  fruits  is 
abroad  in  the  whole  land  from  Maine  to  California,  and  from  the 
Lakes  to  the  Gulf,  and  has  justified  all  the  expectations  of  success. 
Let  us  consider  for  a  moment  what  this  means.  It  means  that  one 
million,  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  acres  of  city  and  town 
land  are  under  cultivation  this  year — the  largest  part  heretofore 
non-producing.  Urban  and  suburban  America  today  is  a  vast 
garden  as  the  result  of  the  impulse  given  to  the  nation  by  the 
National  Emergency  Food  Garden  Commission.  This  area  of 
fruitfulness  embraces  back  yards,  vacant  lots  and  hitherto  untilled 
tracts  of  land  in  and  around  nearly  every  city,  town  and  village  in 
the  country.  Our  country-wide  survey  locates  nearly  three  million 
food  gardens,  but  this  is  not  the  best  of  the  story. 

It  is  conservative  to  state  that  by  the  planting  of  gardens 
where  none  grew  before  the  nation's  food  supply  has  been  increased 
to  the  extent  of  more  than  $350,000,000.  The  canning  and  drying 
movement  has  brought  back  to  thousands  of  American  households 
an  art  almost  forgotten  since  our  grandmothers'  days.  This  partic- 
ularly applies  to  the  drying  of  vegetables  and  fruits  which  this 
year,  in  addition  to  canning,  is  being  done  by  good  housewives  far 
beyond  any  anticipation. 

There  is  much  evidence  that  our  food  gardens  are  helping  our 
people  to  feed  themselves  more  reasonably.  The  Editor  of  the 
North  American  Review  says  in  the  September  number: 

Last  spring,  at  garden-planting  time  we  urged  the  increase  of  production,  partly 
through  intensified  culture,  to  increase  the  yield  per  acre,  and  partly  through  the 
increase  of  acreage  by  the  cultivation  of  neglected  fields  and  even  small  plots  in 


204  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

suburban  and  urban  areas.  How  well  this  policy  was  executed  is  seen  in  the 
Report  of  the  National  Emergency  Food  Garden  Commission,  that  the  gardens 
of  the  country  were  this  year  more  than  trebled  in  area.  Beyond  question,  this 
achievement  has  much  to  do  with  the  fact  that  the  increase  in  price  of  garden  prod- 
ucts in  the  year  was  only  twenty-two  per  cent,  or  less  than  one-fifth  the  increase 
in  the  price  of  breadstuffs. 

The  results  will  mean  much  for  food  this  winter  f.o.b. 
the  pantry  shelves  of  the  homes  of  America  and  help  us,  by  feeding 
ourselves,  to  feed  our  boys  of  the  army  and  navy  and  our  allies. 
Do  we  all  realize  that  we  already  have  a  million  men  under  arms  in 
our  army  and  navy  and  that  there  will  be  at  least  two  million  of 
them  by  spring?  They  must  all  be  fed  and  the  soldiers  and  people 
of  France  and  England  must  be  fed  and  to  a  large  extent  fed  by  us 
and  we  are  going  to  do  it.  In  the  canning  and  drying  of  vegetables 
and  fruits  our  women  are  contributing  their  share. 

The  glass  jar  manufacturers  of  this  country  have  delivered 
to  September  1  about  one  hundred  and  nineteen  million  quart  glass 
jars.  A  survey  of  the  household  supply  of  jars  used  for  canning  and 
preserving  in  some  twenty  typical  towns  throughout  the  country 
shows  that  the  housewives  of  America  this  year  will  use  but  one  new 
jar  to  over  three  and  one-quarter  old  glass  jars  on  hand,  and  all  of 
them,  old  and  new,  have  been  filled  or  will  be  filled.  Thus  you  see 
that  speaking  in  conservative  terms  the  home  women  of  our  country 
will  conserve  more  than  four  hundred  and  sixty  million  quart  glass 
jars  of  vegetables  and  fruits — certainly  three  times  what  has  been 
accomplished  before.  I  think  this  is  inspiring.  The  drying  and 
dehydrating  has  also  added  very  largely  to  the  food  supply  by  pre- 
serving vegetables  and  fruits  and  in  this  way  providing  the  fruit- 
fulness  of  summer  for  the  needs  of  the  winter. 

The  commission  is  of  course  gratified  at  the  success  of  its  work 
in  behalf  of  food  thrift.  Great  credit  is  due  the  press  of  the  country 
for  its  splendid  and  .liberal  cooperation.  The  popular  interest 
that  has  been  aroused  in  gardening,  canning  and  drying  is  significant 
of  the  American  determination  to  neglect  no  opportunity  to 
strengthen  the  nation's  war-time  position. 

Much  has  been  learned  this  year  by  town  and  city  people  about 

the  cultivation  and  value  of  the  soil  and  the  conservation  of  its 

products,  so  that  we  may  look  with  faith  and  courage  to  still  greater 

esults  for  the  next  season,  when  the  need  will  be  even  more  urgent. 


Urban  and  Suburban  Food  Production  205 

I  think  this  is  a  hopeful  picture,  and  in  coming  here  today  to 
meet  you  all,  I  come  simply  as  another  worker  with  the  simple 
proposal  that  urban  and  suburban  dwellers  continue  their  good  work 
in  joining  with  us,  that  we  may  jointly  and  with  the  best  intelligence 
that  we  can  mutually  bring  to  bear,  all  of  us,  contribute  our  part  in 
fighting  with  food.  We  are  going  to  do  our  duty  in  this  hour  of 
trial.  The  fact  is  that  this  war  is  as  much  our  war  as  it  is  the  war 
of  Europe,  and  unless  we  can  keep  the  women  and  children  of  our 
allies  fed,  the  western  line  of  defense  may  be  thrown  back  toward 
the  Atlantic  seaboard,  and  it  is  well  within  possibilities  in  that  case 
we  would  see  the  enemy's  army  even  in  Pennsylvania  and  at  Phila- 
delphia. 

I  want  to  praise  the  good  women  of  this  country  because  it  is 
the  women  who  really  understand  what  the  war  means.  It  is  my 
experience  that  the  patriotic  women  of  America  have  been  practicing 
thrift  and  that  they  know  full  well  how  to  practice  economy  without 
parsimony,  but  this  year  in  addition  they  have  added  to  their  duties 
the  patriotic  work  of  food  production  and  food  conservation.  A 
thrifty  woman  is  a  blessing  to  mankind,  and  the  women  know  very 
much  more  about  real  thrift  than  the  men.  Many  men  are  extrav- 
agant in  matters  of  this  kind  and  if  they  become  thrifty,  as  they 
think,  they  in  reality  become  stingy.  Stinginess  is  not  thrift.  So,  I 
say,  all  honor  to  the  women  of  America  who  are  doing  their  part. 

We  are  going  to  win  this  war  and  we  are  going  to  win  it  by 
fighting  with  food.  You  cannot  starve  Germany;  Ambassador 
Gerard  has  told  us  so,  and  from  the  available  evidence  I  believe  he  is 
right,  but  we  will  starve  our  allies  if  we  are  so  shortsighted  and  small 
and  mean  and  unpatriotic  as  not  to  deserve  the  name  of  Americans. 
This  must  not  be!     It  will  not  be! 

We  face  a  race  of  people  under  a  government  intent  upon  the 
mastery  of  the  world.  The  war  seems  far  away  to  most  of  us,  but 
we  are  in  reality  fighting  for  our  national  existence  and  our  fate  as  a 
free  people.  We  will  realize  this  more  when  the  great  stream  of 
wounded  and  maimed  of  our  soldier  boys  are  sent  back  to  us  from 
France.  But,  as  I  say,  we  are  going  to  win  this  war.  Our  soldiers 
are  going  to  do  their  part.  We  are  sending  our  friends  and  our  sons 
to  the  front  and  we  who  are  at  home  not  fit  to  carry  arms,  men  and 
women,  can  carry  on  the  good  fight  and  do  our  part  quite  as  well  as 
the  man  with  the  gun.     Thrift  will  do  her  part  in  securing  success 


206  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

but  without  thrift  we  will  fail.  I  am  sure  you  are  doing  your  part 
and  I  feel  sure  of  victory — a  victory  of  arms  and  a  victory  of  thrift — 
and  when  that  victory  comes  there  may  be  erected  a  simple  monu- 
ment commemorating  this  greatest  event  in  modern  history,  and  I 
hope  there  will  be  inscribed  on  it  these  words:  For  Democracy 
and  Civilization — A  War  Won  by  Free  Men  and  Free  Women  for 
Humanity. 


THE  POINT   OF   ORIGIN   PLAN  FOR  MARKETING 

By  a.  B.  Ross, 

Executive  Secretary,  Department  of  Food  Supply,  ■Committee  of  Public  Safety 

of  Pennsylvania. 

The  object  of  this  plan  is  the  feeding  of  each  community,  as 
far  as  possible,  with  food  from  within  its  own  natural  trading  area, 
and  the  laying  by  of  dried,  canned  and  stored  reserves  of  food  from 
local  sources;  the  keeping  of  community  money  within  the  com- 
munity area,  and  using  it  for  community  development;  the  making 
of  each  community  a  self-contained,  self-sustaining,  compact  trading 
unit;  the  development  of  the  smaller  community  centers  into  ex- 
porters of  food  to  the  larger  cities,  reversing  the  present  system 
whereby  natural  food-producing  areas  are  importing  food. 

The  plan  is  not  arbitrary;  it  has  been  built  up  in  ten  years  of 
patient  study,  labor  and  experimental  marketing  carried  on  jointly 
by  farmers  and  myself.  It  is  readily  within  the  comprehension  of 
the  farmer,  and,  in  its  present  form,  has  met  with  the  instant,  un- 
qualified and  enthusiastic  endorsement  of  the  great  mass  of  farmers 
to  whom  it  has  been  submitted,  and  who  joined  the  ranks  of  non- 
producers  of  city  food  because  they  could  not  make  production 
profitable.     It  requires  no  new  business  machinery. 

It  incorporates  three  fundamentals  of  economic  distribution: 

a.  Reduces  transportation  to  a  minimum. 

b.  Organizes  and  standardizes  food  instead  of  seeking  to  organize  and  stand- 

ardize farmers. 

c.  Places  responsibility  exactly  where  it  belongs. 

The  Transportation  Situation.  Altoona,  Pa.,  furnishes  a  typical 
illustration  of  the  system  of  food  supply  ruling  interior  cities  and 


The  Point  of  Origin  Plan  207 

towns.  A  food  survey  in  1915  showed  that  of  a  total  annual  food 
bill  of  $4,200,000,  not  less  than  $1,680,000  is  spent  for  a  riot  of  trans- 
portation and  retransportation,  handling  and  rehandling,  commis- 
sioning, jobbing  and  the  allowance  for  waste  which  the  retailer  must 
make  knowing  the  condition  of  the  produce  when  it  reaches  him. 

Organizing  the  Farmer.  The  United  States  Census  figures  for 
1910  show  that  about  20  per  cent  of  our  perishable  food  is  the  prod- 
uct of  truck  farms,  fruit  farms  and  other  intensive  operations. 
Eighty  per  cent  of  our  perishables  come  from  the  garden,  orchard, 
flocks  and  herds  of  the  ordinary  farm.  The  weekly  sales  of  fruit, 
vegetables,  poultry,  eggs  and  all  dairy  products  from  these  ordinary 
farms — of  which  there  are  over  200,000  in  Pennsylvania  alone — 
average  only  a  little  over  $6.  These  farmers  are  engaged  in  the 
production  of  staples  as  their  serious  business;  the  production  of 
perishables  is  a  minor  operation.  And  it  is  sheer  folly  to  talk  of 
organizing  farmers  for  a  $6  a  week  business,  no  matter  how  much  we, 
at  the  other  end  of  the  line,  figure  such  organization  would  help  to 
solve  our  problems. 

Identifying  the  Problem.  The  comfortable  assumption  of  the 
city  man  is  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  farmer  to  increase  production  so 
that  food  costs  may  be  lowered,  but  it  is  his  duty  to  charge  a  profit 
on  the  shoes  and  the  clothes  and  the  hardware  which  he  sells  to  the 
farmer.  Talk  to  the  city  man  about  selling  his  merchandise  to  the 
farmer  at  a  loss  because  the  farmer  needs  it,  and  something  will 
happen. 

Producing  and  marketing  food  is  a  business  and  not  a  fad. 
Outlets  to  be  of  value  must  be  adequate,  available  at  all  times  and 
must  offer  a  fair  chance  of  profit.  What  the  food  business  needs  is 
not  faddism,  grafting  organizations,  which  have  a  purely  selfish  or 
an  ulterior  purpose,  nor  sentimental  propaganda,  but  stabilizing, 
being  put  on  a  basis  of  bargain  and  sale,  supply  and  demand,  pro- 
duction and  distribution  which  will  prevent  gluts  and  waste  and  in- 
sure to  the  farmer  a  steady  margin  of  profit  without  which  no 
business  can  hope  to  survive. 

The  very  character  of  the  problem,  the  requirement  of  organ- 
ization, capital,  brains,  executive  force,  ability,  fairness  and  a  willing- 
ness to  serve  in  a  quasi-public  undertaking,  takes  it  away  from  the 
individual  producers  and  the  helpless  consumers  and  puts  it  squarely 
up  to  the  best  business  brains  of  each  community. 


208  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

There  is  no  economic  pressure  on  the  farmer  to  produce  food  at 
a  loss.  He  has  his  three  meals  a  day  whether  we  of  the  city  eat  or 
starve.  He  is  just  as  much  interested  in  the  cost  of  our  food  as  we 
are  in  what  he  pays  for  farm  implements,  fertilizer  and  seed,  and  not 
a  bit  more.  The  real  economic  pressure  of  the  food  problem  is 
exerted  directly  upon  every  kind  of  employed  labor  and  indirectly 
upon  every  employer  of  labor  to  whom  the  bill  for  the  food  is  ulti- 
mately handed  either  in  the  form  of  higher  wages  or  lowered  pro- 
duction due  to  lowered  living  standards.  Clearly  the  problem  for 
the  city  and  town  is  one  for  its  business  men  whose  dollar's  worth  of 
labor  yields  its  greatest  profit  when  that  same  dollar  buys  the  largest 
quantity  of  wholesome  food. 

The  Standardizing  Plant.  The  first  necessity  is  a  fully  equipped 
standardizing  plant  in  charge  of  a  competent  manager,  the  plant  to  be 
at  a  place  convenient  for  receiving,  shipping  and  distributing  the 
products  of  the  farm,  orchard  and  dairy.  This  plant  must  be  the 
link  which  unites  the  farming  sections  of  the  community  with  the 
city  section,  and  its  location  must  be  determined  with  a  view  to  the 
interests  of  each. 

The  Purpose  of  the  Plant.  The  purpose  of  this  plant  is  not  to 
standardize  or  organize  farmers;  it  is  to  organize  and  standardize  the 
food  supply  of  an  entire  community.  The  latter  purpose  is  possible 
of  accomplishment,  the  former  is  not. 

The  plant  is  emphatically  a  manufacturing  one,  to  which  the 
producer  delivers  raw  food  materials  to  be  turned  into  finished 
products  by  grading,  packing,  labeling  and  preparing  for  display  and 
sale  in  the  retail  markets.  No  amount  of  organization  of  farmers 
and  appointment  of  committees  can  take  the  place  of  the  painstaking 
work  which  lies  back  of  the  title  "expert";  and  the  preparation  of 
food  for  market  is  expert  work  of  a  very  high  grade.  The  coopera- 
tion of  inexperienced  individuals  will  not  create  experience  of  the 
necessary  kind. 

All  the  American  farmer  needs  to  know  is  that  his  rough  prod- 
ucts will,  in  his  home  town,  go  through  a  course  of  grading  and 
preparation  which  will  assure  them  first  choice  in  home  and  nearby 
markets,  that  the  outlet  is  sure  and  will  be  profitable,  and  he'  will 
produce  to  the  point  of  choking  the  outlet.  It  is  the  lack  of  an 
adequate  market  at  a  reasonable  profit  which  is  today  strangling  the 
greatest  source  of  our  food  supply. 


The  Point  of  Origin  Plan  209 

Equipment  of  the  Standardizing  Plant.  Following  is  a  list  of 
the  equipment  needed  in  a  standardizing  plant:  full  equipment  for 
the  grading,  wrapping,  packing,  handling  and  shipping  of  the  various 
food  products;  special  containers  for  local  use  with  food  furnished 
the  home  town;  canning  and  evaporating  units  for  handling  the 
surplus  fruit  and  vegetables  each  day  to  prevent  waste,  and  for 
handling  all  fruit  and  vegetables  during  times  when  market  depres- 
sion makes  canning  more  profitable  than  shipping;  storage  room  for 
containers  for  fresh  and  canned  products;  modified  cold  storage  for 
use  during  the  hot  weather;  local  ware  or  display  room  for  sales  to 
retailers  and,  if  desired,  to  associations  of  consumers;  and  ultimately, 
a  fully  equipped  cold  storage  for  holding  all  surplus  butter,  eggs, 
fruits,  vegetables,  meats,  etc. 

A  Suggestion  for  Location.  If  at  all  possible  the  plant  should  be 
located  next  to  the  ice  or  electric  light  plant.  Waste  steam  and 
electric  power  furnished  on  meter  charge,  will  greatly  reduce  the 
original  investment  and  the  unit  cost  of  many  operations. 

My  experience  with  farmers  has  developed  beyond  a  perad- 
venture  two  important  facts: 

1.  They  will  not  risk  cash  in  financing  the  operation;  and 

2.  They  will  cheerfully  turn  over  a  part  of  their  fruit  and  produce  in  exchange 

for  non-assessable  stock  in  the  corporation. 

The  farmer  is  willing  to  give  his  long-time  note  to  pay  for  his  stock, 
provided  he  is  protected  by  a  clear  contract  permitting  him,  at  his 
option,  to  pay  the  note  either  in  cash  or  an  equivalent  amount  of 
fruit  or  produce. 

Opportunity  for  Boys  and  Girls.  In  many  cases  arrangements 
can  be  made,  on  terms  satisfactory  to  parents  and  children,  whereby 
the  latter  can  be  interested  in  producing  for  the  corporation  as 
their  opportunity  to  earn  and  save  money  for  some  cherished  pur- 
pose. There  is  no  need  to  theorize  on  this  subject.  The  success 
of  the  boys'  and  girls'  club  work  under  less  attractive  conditions 
has  been  considerable.  It  will  be  greater  where  the  opportunity  is 
broader,  made  certain  and  protected,  as  it  can  be,  against  unfair 
parental  interference.  Money  earned  by  the  children  can  go 
through  the  regular  juvenile  savings  fund  channels:  The  city  will 
get  more  food,  educate  more  farmers  and  form  character  in  more 
of  her  future  citizens. 

But  before  the  standardizing  plant  with  its  desirable  operations 


210  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

can  be  established  in  community  favor,  the  city  man  must  learn  that 
furnishing  a  steady,  reliable  and  cheap  supply  of  wholesome,  pala- 
table food  for  his  operatives  is  not  a  problem  to  be  left  to  the  nearby 
farmer  or  the  operative,  but  one  for  the  manufacturer  himself,  since 
his  production  costs  are  immediately  affected. 

The  banker  must  learn  that   constructive  banking  requires- 
that  a  part  of  the  community  capital  be  devoted  to  the  development 
of  agriculture,  to  the  end  that  no  part  of  the  community  may  fail  in 
its  normal  growth,  and  that  the  interdependence  of  all  parts  may  be 
preserved. 

The  farmer  must  learn  that  his  connection  with  his  product 
must  end  with  its  delivery  at  the  plant;  that  the  much  dreamed  of 
cooperation  has  its  line  fences;  and  that  efficiency  and  profit  are  in- 
separable in  his  work. 

And  the  manufacturer,  the  banker,  the  tradesman  and  the  farmer 
must  learn  that  in  the  coordination  of  their  departments  lies  the 
restoration  of  that  lost  equilibrium  between  town  and  country  which 
must  be  restored  to  prevent  national  disaster. 


LESSONS    IN    SOLVING    LABOR,    CREDIT    AND    OTHER 
PRODUCTION   PROBLEMS 

By  a.  E.  Grantham, 

Professor  of  Agronomy,  Delaware  College. 

In  the  past  few  years  considerable  attention  has  been  paid  to 
some  of  the  economic  factors  that  influence  food  production,  but  it 
was  not  until  1917  that  these  conditions  became  a  matter  of  grave 
concern.  Our  country  awoke  to  the  fact  that  there  was  a  decided 
shortage  of  foodstuffs  and  that  our  participation  in  the  war 
had  greatly  increased  the  demand  for  these  products.  Not  only 
was  it  necessary  to  supply  our  own  needs  but  those  of  our  allies 
as  well.  This  threw  the  burden  of  increased  food  production  upon 
the  United  States  in  a  way  it  had  never  before  experienced.  Labor 
was  scarce;  men  were  sought  for  military  service,  for  factories,  for 
transportation  and  for  the  farm.  For  nearly  three  years  there  had 
been  a  gradual  flow  of  labor  from  the  farm  to  the  manufacturing 
plants  of  war  munitions.     The  spring  of  1917  brought  the  country 


Labor,  Credit  and  Other  Production  Problems      211 

face  to  face  with  the  problem  of  preparing  for  war  and  of  greatly 
increasing  the  production  of  foodstuffs.  Immediately  plans  were 
inaugurated  by  the  federal  government'  and  the  various  states  to 
increase  the  production  of  food  products  throughout  the  country. 
Such  a  program  never  before  had  been  attempted.  Much  had  to 
be  learned  as  to  the  best  manner  of  handling  the  problem.  The 
fact  is,  the  country  knew  very  little  of  the  actual  resources  of  the 
farmer  for  meeting  this  heavy  obligation.  For  years  past  there  has 
been  considerable  discussion  concerning  farm  labor  conditions  and 
the  inability  of  the  farmer  to  secure  the  proper  credit  facilities  for 
his  farming  enterprise.  The  food  crisis  brought  these  matters  to  a 
focus  in  such  a  way  that  the  problems  will  be  investigated  more 
quickly  and  thoroughly  than  otherwise  would  have  been  possible. 
It  is  well  known  that  during  the  past  decade  there  has  been  a  steady 
movement  of  farm  labor  from  the  country  to  the  city.  This  move- 
ment has  been  more  marked  during  the  past  three  years,  since  our 
industries  have  been  largely  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  muni- 
tions and  war  materials  for  foi-eign  countries.  The  higher  wages 
paid  by  the  shop  have  induced  thousands  to  leave  the  farm.  The 
farmer  is  now  facing  the  keenest  competition  in  employing  labor. 

In  the  meantime  the  discussion  of  better  credit  for  the  farmer 
has  brought  about  the  passage  of  the  Federal  Farm  Loan  Act  which 
resulted  in  the  establishment  of  the  Federal  Farm  Loan  banks 
during  the  spring  of  this  year.  These  are  now  getting  started  with 
their  work,  and  the  popularity  of  this  movement  for  better  credit 
facilities  is  attested  by  the  large  number  of  applicants  for  farm 
loans  in  practically  every  one  of  the  bank  districts. 

When  the  food  problem  became  acute  in  the  early  months  of 
the  year  all  of  these  problems  of  farm  labor  and  credit  were  again 
brought  to  the  attention  of  the  public  in  a  very  decided  manner. 
The  entire  nation  realized  that  a  supreme  effort  must  be  made  to 
increase  production.  All  eyes  were  turned  to  the  farm.  Agencies, 
public  and  private,  have  been  employed  to  assist  the  farmer  in 
securing  the  necessary  labor  and  credit  for  enlarging  his  output. 
The  first  season  is  well  over.  What  have  been  the  lessons  learned 
in  solving  these  problems  of  production? 

In  the  first  pihce  it  was  thought  there  was  a  very  large  shortage 
of  labor  on  the  farm.  Few  knew  the  situation  accurately.  An 
agricultural  survey  conducted  by  a  few  of  the  states  has  shown 


212  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

that  the  shortage  of  labor  was  overestimated.  In  Massachusetts 
the  director  of  the  Department  of  Labor  states  that  no  more  than 
10  per  cent  of  the  supposed  shortage  existed.  On  the  other  hand 
in  the  state  of  New  York  fifty-six  counties  were  carefully  canvassed 
and  it  was  found  that  there  were  approximately  15,000  fewer  men 
on  the  farms  in  April,  1917  than  in  April,  1916.^  The  requests  for 
help  brought  out  by  this  survey  from  the  same  territory,  showed 
that  20,000  men  were  needed  to  carry  out  the  plans  for  increased 
production.  In  one  or  two  other  states,  particularly  Delaware,  it 
was  found  that  farmers  had  apphed  for  additional  labor  when  they 
already  had  on  the  farm  more  men  than  could  be  economically 
utilized  under  their  type  of  farming.  There  is  a  suspicion  that 
many  of  these  applicants  for  farm  labor  expected  that  they  were  to 
secure  additional  help  at  a  very  low  wage. 

In  all  quarters  it  was  realized  that  there  was  considerable 
shortage  of  labor.  The  problem  was  to  locate  the  men  who  needed 
labor  and  to  find  laborers  for  the  farm.  At  the  outset  it  was  seen 
that  some  sort  of  an  organization  was  necessary  in  order  to  facilitate 
the  gathering  and  distribution  of  labor.  Massachusetts  seems  to 
have  solved  the  problem  in  a  very  satisfactory  manner.  The 
committee  on  Public  Safety  of  the  Commionwealth  of  Massachusetts^ 
employed  a  man  as  state  labor  agent.  He  in  turn  appointed  a 
county  representative  in  connection  with  each  of  the  farm  bureaus 
of  the  state.  The  county  men  secured  representatives  with  each 
of  the  town  and  city  food  committees,  numbering  326.  The  job 
of  the  labor  man  was  to  localize  the  work.  Each  of  the  town  food 
committees  was  expected  through  its  labor  agent  to  satisfy  the 
local  needs  for  labor  just  as  far  as  possible.  What  could  not  be 
met  by  the  town  agent  was  referred  to  the  county  labor  agent,  and 
what  the  county  labor  agent  could  not  meet  was  referred  to  the 
state  labor  agent.  This  plan  was  in  operation  some  time  before  it 
was  suggested  by  the  United  States  Department  of  Agriculture. 
This  scheme  in  various  forms  was  used  by  the  different  states. 
In  Indiana  an  appeal  was  made  to  each  of  the  1,800  banks  and 
grain  dealers  of  the  state  to  have  farmers  who  needed  labor  file  with 

^  Bulletin  II.     May  22,  1917.     New  York  State  Food  Supply  Commission. 

'  Letter  from  John  T.  Willard,  Secretary,  Committee  on  Food  Production 
and  Conservation,  Massachusetts  Committee  on  Public  Safety  under  date  of 
August  4,  1917, 


Labor,  Credit  and  Other  Production  Problems       213 

them  an  application  for  the  help  needed.  A  county  organization 
for  increased  food  production  was  formed  in  all  but  four  counties 
of  the  state.  These  organizations  selected  a  local  man  or  firm  to 
act  as  headquarters  for  getting  laborers  in  touch  with  farmers  need- 
ing help. 

A  very  complete  organization  for  ascertaining  the  labor  needs 
was  worked  out  in  Ohio.^  Under  this  plan  the  state  was  divided 
into  twenty-one  employment  divisions  with  a  free  employment 
office  in  each  division.  These  employment  divisions  were  deter- 
mined by  transportation  facilities,  although  in  all  cases  county 
lines  were  followed.  The  divisions  vary  in  size  from  two  to  seven 
counties.  The  employment  office  is  located  in  the  principal  city  of 
each  division.  In  each  office  an  agricultural  division  was  estab- 
lished with  at  least  one  office  man  and  one  outside  man  to  solicit 
farm  labor.  In  every  instance  where  new  offices  were  established 
the  local  authorities — municipal  or  county — furnished  the  quarters, 
office  equipment,  telephone  service,  heat,  light  and  janitor  service. 
The  state  furnishes  the  employes  printed  forms,  postage,  etc.,  and 
supervises  the  office.  The  employes  are  paid  from  the  war  emer- 
gency fund.  And  the  work  is  carried  on  by  the  Ohio  branch  of  the 
Council  of  National  Defense.  Cooperating  with  the  employment 
offices  are  fifty-five  county  agricultural  agents  who  are  under  the 
supervision  of  the  agricultural  division  of  the  Ohio  branch  of  the 
Council  of  National  Defense  and  are  paid  employes.  The  agent's 
business  is  to  assist  the  farmer  in  every  possible  way  and  a  part  of 
his  duties  is  to  learn  the  farmer's  needs  as  far  as  help  is  concerned 
and  then  forward  his  orders  to  the  superintendent  of  the  employ- 
ment office  of  the  division  in  which  he  is  located.  In  addition  to 
the  paid  agricultural  agents,  the  county  commissions  have  appointed 
an  unpaid  food  and  crop  commissioner  in  each  county  and  he  has 
been  asked  to  appoint  township  food  and  crop  commissioners. 
These  men  serve  without  pay  and  assist  in  every  way  possible  in 
urging  increased  acreage,  surveying  conditions,  etc.  In  order  to 
learn  as  quickly  as  possible  the  needs  of  the  farmers  an  inquiry 
sheet  was  distributed.  This  asked  for  the  acreage  in  crops  and  the 
labor  needs.  About  one-third  of  the  farmers  requested  help  either 
at  once  or  during  harvest. 

'Fred  C.  Croxton.  "War  Employment  in  Ohio."  Monthly  Review  of  the 
Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics..     Vol.  IV,  June,  1917,  No.  6. 


214  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

To  facilitate  the  exchange  of  labor  between  industrial  plants 
and  to  get  an  inventory  of  available  labor  each  employment  super- 
intendent is  furnished  with  a  confidential  list  of  all  the  employers 
in  his  district  normally  employing  five  or  more  persons.  This  list 
shows  the  name,  address,  nature  of  business,  the  number  of  employes 
in  each  establishment  and  covers  manufacturing,  commercial  and 
all  other  lines  of  industry.  All  of  the  larger  employers  in  each 
employment  division  are  furnished  by  the  superintendent  as 
promptly  as  possible  with  cards  upon  which  they  are  asked  to 
report  to  the  division  superintendent  at  the  close  of  each  day  infor- 
mation concerning  each  employe  whose  period  of  employment 
terminated  during  the  day.  The  employers  living  in  the  immediate 
vicinity  in  which  the  employment  office  is  located  will  also  be  asked 
to  give  to  employes  whose  period  of  employment  terminates  a  card 
of  reference  to  the  employment  office.  The  employers  are  also 
asked  to  give  the  employment  office  notice  in  advance  of  contem- 
plated reduction  in  force. 

Mr.  Croxton,  chairman  of  the  labor  division,  says  this  plan 
will  accomplish  a  number  of  things: 

1.  It  will  materially  lesson  the  time  lost  by  workers  in  seeking 

new  jobs. 

2.  It  will  aid  the  employers  in  securing  help  to  take  the  place 

of  those  enlisting  for  military  service,  or  of  those  leaving 
for  other  causes,  or  to  secure  additional  help  as  business 
expands. 

3.  It  will  greatly  aid  farmers  in  securing  help. 

4.  It  will  make  it  possible  to  give  preference  in  referring  help 

to  certain  industries  producing  the  goods  most  needed  by 
our  troops  or  those  of  our  allies. 

5.  It  will  materially  lessen  the  idleness  on  the  part  of  thousands 

of  floating  laborers  in  the  state. 

6.  It  will  produce  team  work  among  the  various  localities  of 

.  the  state. 

7.  It  will  make  it  possible  to  cooperate  most  effectively  with 

other  states  and  with  the  federal  government. 

This  plan  is  given  in  considerable  detail  as  showing  the  method 
by  which  one  state  has  attacked  the  labor  problem.  None  of  these 
schemes  of  securing  and  distributing  labor  has  been  in  operation 
long  enough  to  warrant  the  drawing  of  final  conclusions  as  to  their 
effectiveness.  Mr.  Croxton  reports  that  for  the  week  ending  May 
12,  4,301  jobs  were  filled.    Three  hundred  and  forty-five  farm  hands 


•   Labor,  Credit  and  Other  Production  Problems      215 

were  placed  on  farms.  On  May  14,  ninety-six  farm  hands  were 
sent  to  farmers.  The  total  number  of  jobs  filled  on  that  day  was 
884.  Mr.  Croxton  writing  to  the  author  under  date  of  August  9, 
says: 

You  may  be  interested  in  knowing  that  through  this  plan  more  than  27,000 
places  were  filled  during  July  and  more  than  7,800  during  the  last  week.  The 
majority  of  these  placements  are  in  industrial  work  but  since  the  first  of  May  more 
than  2,400  farm  hands  have  been  placed  through  the  various  employment  offices. 

Sources  of  Farm  Labor 

The  chief  difficulty  seemed  to  be  to  locate  labor  of  a  satisfac- 
tory character  for  the  farm.  In  New  Jersey^  the  labor  question  was 
handled  in  three  ways: 

1.  By  releasing  high  school  boys  for  emergency  work,  giving 
them  scholastic  credit  for  the  time  employed,  and  in  some  cases 
organizing  them  into  working  bands. 

2.  By  personal  solicitation  to  the  manufacturers  to  release  com- 
petent labor  for  a  limited  period  during  harvests.  The  canvass  was 
carried  on  by  students  who  volunteered  their  services  and  received 
only  their  expenses.  About  1,700  men  were  released  for  short 
periods  aggregating  25,000  days  of  labor. 

3.  Wide  publicity  was  given  to  the  opportunity  to  secure  farm 
labor  through  the  federal  state  employment  agencies  conducted  by 
the  Department  of  Labor.  Mr.  Bryant,  Commissioner  of  the 
New  Jersey  Department  of  Labor  states^  that  they  were  able  to 
place  about  1,800  men  on  farms  to  date.  During  July  the  total 
placements  of  all  kinds  numbered  4,879.  The  Department  of  Public 
Instruction  of  New  Jersey  took  an  active  part  in  enrolling  and 
organizing  the  school  boys  of  the  state.®  The  school  boys  were 
organized  into  the  Junior  Industrial  Army  of  New  Jersey.  This 
organization  is  divided  into  three  divisions:  agricultural,  home 
gardens  and  girls'  service. 

The  agricultural  division  is  made  up  of  boys  fourteen  years  of 

*  Letter  from  Mr.  Alfred  Gaskill,  Director  of  the  Department  of  Conservation 
and  Development  of  the  State  of  New  Jersey,  under  date  of  August  13,  1917. 

^  Letter  from  Mr.  Lewis  T.  Bryant,  Commissioner  of  the  Department  of 
Labor  of  New  Jersey  under  date  of  August  15,  1917. 

8  Letter  from  L.  H.  Carrus,  Assistant  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction, 
New  Jersey,  under  date  of  August  10,  1917. 


216  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

age  and  over  who  desire  to  render  some  service  in  the  home,  neigh- 
borhood or  on  any  farm.  The  report  for  the  week  ending  July  13 
shows  an  enrollment  of  7,429  with  3,950  placed  on  farms.  The 
1,200  girls  who  were  enrolled  in  the  first  girls'  service  division  have 
not  yet  had  an  opportunity  of  doing  their  full  part  in  this  work.  By 
far  the  larger  part  of  the  work  of  canning  and  drying  comes  in  the 
late  summer  and  fall,  and  it  is  at  this  time  that  the  girls  will  render 
their  service.  In  the  home  garden  work,  72,186  boys  were  enrolled 
up  to  July  13.''  This  has  resulted  in  a  tremendous  increase  in  the 
gardening  enterprise  of  the  state.  The  number  of  home  gardens  and 
school  gardens  has  grown  to  an  amazing  extent.  A  number  of 
industrial  concerns  in  the  state  have  employed  garden  supervisors 
who  are  helping  the  employes  to  grow  crops  on  land  provided  by  the 
employer. 

An  entirely  new  phase  of  the  campaign  for  increased  food  pro- 
duction has  developed  in  the  use  of  inexperienced  boys  for  farm 
work.  A  definite  call  for  this  type  of  labor  has  come  from  farmers 
in  the  potato,  tomato  and  cranberry  growing  sections  of  the  state  of 
New  Jersey.  Farmers,  with  the  aid  of  the  county  superintendent 
of  farm  demonstration  or  county  agent,  have  organized  themselves 
into  community  groups  for  the  purpose  of  furnishing  a  camp  site 
and  suitable  lodging  and  boarding  quarters.  The  boys  have  been 
organized  in  camp  groups  under  the  personal  supervision  of  a 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  leader.  This  leader  is  expected  to  look  after  the  moral 
and  social  welfare  of  the  boys,  as  well  as  to  superintend  their  working 
activities.  The  work  for  the  most  part  is  paid  by  the  piece  at  the 
prevaihng  wage  for  that  type  of  work  in  the  community.  Careful 
investigation  of  the  use  of  boy  labor  in  this  way  in  certain  types  of 
farming  in  this  and  other  states  indicates  that  the  farmers  are  well 
pleased  with  the  plan  and  that  the  boys  are  entirely  satisfied  with 
the  working  conditions.  These  camps  have  been  made  possible 
only  through  the  cooperation  of  the  county  superintendents  of  farm 
demonstration,  the  state  Y.  M.  C.  A.  and  the  school  authorities. 

In  Virginia*  800  boy  scouts  from  the  cities  of  Richmond,  Nor- 
folk and  Petersburg  were  sent  to  the  eastern  shore  of  Virginia  to  pick 

^  Letter  from  Dr.  J.  G.  Lipraan,  Director  of  the  New  Jersey  Experiment  Sta- 
tion, under  date  of  August  9,  1917. 

'  Letter  from  J.  M.  Jones,  Director  Agricultural  Extension,  Virginia  Agri- 
cultural and  Mechanical  College,  Blacksburg,  Va.  under  date  of  August  20,  1917. 


Labor,  Credit  and  Other  Production  Problems      217 

potatoes.  At  Charlottsville,  arrangements  are  being  perfected 
whereby  the  boy  scouts  will  be  taken  into  the  orchard  districts  to 
pick  apples  this  fall.  Considerable  difference  of  opinion  is  expressed 
as  to  the  value  of  boys  as  farm  help.  This  is  evidently  due  to  the 
kind  of  work  to  which  the  boys  are  assigned.  Boys  from  the  city 
are  not  likely  to  be  experienced  in  handling  horses  and  machinery. 
Commissioner  Koiner^  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture  and 
Immigration  writes  that  the  efforts  to  help  the  farmers  with  boy 
scouts  has  not  proved  satisfactory.  In  many  instances  the  boys 
have  no  experience  in  farming  and  do  not  know  how  to  manage 
horses  or  to  handle  machinery.  The  farmers  are  busy  and  have  no 
time  to  teach  inexperienced  hands  when  they  only  expect  to  keep 
them  a  short  while. 

It  will  be  noted  that  some  of  these  plans  for  securing  labor  are 
only  temporary.  Methods  of  enrolling  labor  such  as  have  been 
adapted  by  Massachusetts  and  Ohio  seem  to  meet  the  situation  more 
satisfactorily.  A  complete  organization  of  the  agricultural  and 
industrial  labor  resources  appears  to  be  the  most  practical  solution. 
When  we  contemplate  the  fact  that  next  year  will  demand  an  equal 
if  not  a  much  larger  supply  of  labor,  since  the  draft  will  then  be  in 
full  operation,  it  will  be  necessary  in  many  states  to  devise  more 
satisfactory  schemes  for  securing  and  distributing  labor. 

In  Maryland  more  than  100  city  families  were  placed  on  farms 
this  season  by  advertising  in  the  Baltimore  papers  for  skilled  farm 
labor.  The  Farm  Labor  Bureau  of  Baltimore^"  has  perfected  an 
organization  whereby  groups  of  five  or  six  men  will  be  sent  out  to 
a  similar  group  of  farmers  who  agree  to  use  the  labor  cooperatively. 
These  laborers  board  themselves.  This  plan  will  surely  work  where 
the  farms  are  small  and  much  diversified.^^ 

'  Letter  under  date  of  August  17,  1917. 

*"  Letter  from  T.  B.  Symonds,  Director  of  Agricultural  Extension,  Maryland 
State  College  of  Agriculture,  under  date  of  August  3,  1917. 

"  A  new  feature  of  the  labor  problem  comes  to  the  front  in  the  Compulsory 
Work  Act  which  was  recently  enacted  by  the  Maryland  legislature.  This  provides 
that  all  able-bodied  men  between  the  ages  of  twenty  and  fifty  not  otherwise 
employed  shall  be  compelled  by  the  state  to  work  on  the  farm  or  on  the  public 
roads.  How  much  this  will  aid  in  setthng  the  labor  shortage  remains  to  be  seen. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  there  is  an  immense  amount  of  labor  that  is  idle  most  of 
the  time.  In  many  small  towns,  negroes  taking  advantage  of  the  high  wages, 
work  only  two  or  three  days  a  week.  Wages  for  two  days  will  keep  the  colored 
man  for  a  week  and  in  this  way  he  puts  in  very  little  time  at  productive  labor. 


I 


218  The  Annals  of  the  Anerican  Academy 

The  whole  question  of  labor,  as  one  inquires  into  the  facts,  is 
not  so  much  the  shortage  as  the  distribution  and  the  idle.  It  has 
been  suggested  that  all  labor  be  conscripted  by  the  government. 
This  may  be  necessary  for  the  country  to  realize  its  resources  to  the 
full  extent.  The  group  system  of  engaging  labor  as  undertaken  in 
Maryland  has  much  to  recommend  it,  especially  in  regions  of  small 
farms.  Six  to  ten  farmers  agree  to  take  so  many  laborers  and  em- 
ploy them  through  the  season.  The  number  of  men  employed  by 
the  individual  farmer  at  a  given  time  will  depend  on  the  pressure  of 
work.  In  this  way  the  group  of  laborers  can  be  employed  con- 
tinually without  losing  time  in  seeking  new  employment,  and  at  the 
same  time  furnishing  all  the  help  the  farmers  may  need.  The 
boys'  camp  project  has  met  with  success  in  various  quarters.  A 
boys'  camp  was  established  near  Indianapohs  through  the  efforts 
of  the  Columbia  Conserve  Company  of  that  place  which  is  reported 
as  doing  very  efficient  work  in  the  intensive  crop  area.  It  would 
appear  that  much  of  the  field  work  near  the  canneries  might  be  done 
by  this  method. 

The  effort  of  the  various  agencies  to  secure  labor  for  farmers 
has  on  the  whole  met  with  fairly  satisfactory  results.  The  reports 
from  various  states  indicate  that  thus  far  few  crops  have  gone  to 
waste  owing  to  lack  of  labor.  The  farm  labor  problem  is  a  complex 
one.  Labor  for  the  farm  may  be  divided  into  three  classes :  1.  For 
general  farm  work  through  the  entire  season.  These  men  must 
be  qualified  to  handle  teams  and  complicated  machinery.  These 
farms  constitute  90  per  cent  of  agricultural  operations  and  are  often 
large  and  widely  distributed.  2.  For  the  harvesting  of  small  fruit, 
peach  and  apple  crops.  This  labor  is  required  for  intervals  of 
several  days  or  weeks  and  is  largely  done  by  the  piece.  The  crop- 
ping districts  are  more  or  less  united  offering  easy  distribution 
of  labor.  3.  For  day  labor  in  harvesting  hay,  small  grain  and 
corn. 

For  the  general  farm,  experienced  help  is  necessary  as  live- 
stock and  machinery  must  be  handled.  For  the  fruit  farms  the 
bulk  of  the  labor  need  not  be  experienced.  The  day  labor  for  emer- 
gency work  is  the  most  difficult  to  secure  because  it  must  be  more 
or  less  skilled  in  farm  operations.  Much  of  the  labor  sent  from 
the  city  is  not  worth  the  wages  asked.  It  is  not  adjustable  to  farm 
conditions  for  two  reasons:  1,  they  are  not  experienced  in  farm 


Labor,  Credit  and  Other  Production  Problems       219 

operations;  2,  they  are  used  to  shorter  hours  and  to  higher  wages 
in  the  city.  If  the  farmer  is  to  be  encouraged  to  large  production 
he  must  have  competent  labor  in  order  to  profit  under  the  present 
wages.  It  is  the  extra  help  in  the  harvest  that  is  the  serious  prob- 
lem. The  problem  is  to  effect  a  distribution  of  labor  in  such  a  man- 
ner that  the  laborer  will  not  lose  time. 

On  the  other  hand  the  farmer  will  need  to  plan  his  farming 
operations  with  the  view  of  avoiding  congesting  the  work  at  irregu- 
lar intervals.  The  supreme  test  of  good  farm  management  is  the 
distribution  of  labor  throughout  the  year  so  as  to  keep  the  men 
profitably  employed.  Slack  work  at  one  period  of  the  year  fol- 
lowed by  a  rush  requiring  extra  help  complicates  the  labor  situation 
on  the  farm.  A  better  planned  rotation  of  crops,  with  suflficient 
livestock  to  give  productive  employment  during  the  winter,  will 
enable  the  farmer  to  keep  his  help  the  year  round.  A  better  dis- 
tribution of  the  labor  on  the  farm  together  with  the  adoption  of 
larger  units  of  machinery  will  enable  the  farmer  to  handle  more 
acres  with  fewer  men.  The  substitution  of  three-and  four-horse 
teams  for  two-horse  teams  will  lessen  the  number  of  men  required. 
This  implies  the  outlay  of  more  money  for  equipment.  All  farm 
machinery  has  practically  doubled  in  price  since  the  war.  This 
brings  up  the  subject  of  credit  for  the  farmer. 

Credit 

The  present  crisis  has  shown  that  the  farmer  was  in  need  of 
credit  in  many  instances  when  he  enlarged  his  production  of  crops. 
The  advance  in  wages  and  in  the  cost  of  machinery,  fertilizer,  lime 
and  seeds  had  increased  his  annual  budget  of  expenses  to  such  an 
extent  that  the  farmer  could  not  meet  them.  The  problem  was  how 
to  meet  this  demand  and  supply  the  farmer  with  the  necessary  credit. 
This  was  considered  in  most  instances  a  local  problem,  and  it  was 
also  held  in  most  instances  that  the  banks  in  the  rural  communities 
would  be  able  to  extend  to  the  farmer  the  proper  credit  facilities. 
This  plan  should  prove  the  best  one  for  obvious  reasons.  The 
farmer  is  generally  well  known  to  the  local  banker  and  the  institu- 
tion is  in  a  position  to  judge  whether  the  applicant  for  a  loan  is 
worthy  or  not.  In  a  few  states  money  has  been  advanced  in  a 
large  way  to  finance  the  farmer.  Reports  indicate  that  they  have 
been  able  to  get  all  the  credit  they  needed  from  the  local  banks.     In 


220  The  Annals  of  the  Amehican  Academy 

the  state  of  New  York  there  was  formed  by  a  number  of  wealthy 
men  what  is  known  as  the  Patriotic  Farmer's  Fund.  This  organi- 
zation cooperated  with  the  State  Grange  and  other  farmer's  organi- 
zations in  placing  small  sums  among  the  farmers  to  buy  seed  and 
fertilizers.  The  trustees  of  the  Patriotic  Farmer's  Fund  include  a 
number  of  well-known  and  wealthy  public-spirited  citizens  who  early 
in  the  year  placed  at  the  disposal  of  farmers  of  the  state  a  large  sum 
of  money  to  be  loaned  to  them  at  4|  per  cent  interest  on  notes  paj^- 
able  December  1.  Several  million  dollars  were  available,  no  limit 
being  placed  on  the  amount.  The  State  Grange  was  asked  to  name 
a  loan  committee  in  each  county  to  pass  upon  the  character  and 
reliability  of  the  applicants  for  loans  from  this  fund.  If  the  report 
of  the  committee  was  satisfactory  the  applicant  was  able  to  secure 
the  needed  money  at  a  nearby  bank  which  had  been  designated  as 
a  depository  by  the  trustees  of  the  fund.  None  of  the  money 
passed  through  the  hands  of  the  state  commission  in  any  way,  its 
work  being  to  act  as  a  general  clearing  house  for  information  and 
assistance.  The  loans  from  the  Patriotic  Farmer's  Fund  up  to 
June  1  were  limited  to  $150  to  each  individual  for  the  specific 
purpose  of  buying  seed  and  fertilizer.  After  June  1  the  loans 
were  available  in  sums  of  $150  each  to  pay  labor  required  in 
caring  for  and  harvesting  farm  crops.  The  limit  of  money 
available  to  any  one  borrower  was  $500.  Mr.  Loomis,'^  the 
State  Commissioner,  states  that  up  to  August  6  about  $300,000 
has  been  loaned  from  this  fund  under  the  operation  of  the  above 
outlined  plan. 

Supplementing  this  special  effort  to  aid  in  agricultural  credit, 
some  work  has  been  done  in  cooperation  with  the  New  York  State 
Bankers'  Association  seeking  to  arouse  increased  interest  in  farm 
loans  and  to  awaken  the  bankers  generally  to  the  great  importance 
of  this  work. 

Massachusetts  ^*  did  not  give  any  direct  aid  to  farmers  in  the 
way  of  credit,  but  the  committee  on  public  safety  took  up  this  ques- 
tion with  the  banks,  urging  them  to  extend  credit  to  farmers  wher- 
ever possible.     Several  of  the  banks  have  opened  special  farm  de- 

12  Letter  from  A.  M.  Loomis,  Commissioner  in  charge  of  Loans  and  Farm 
Funds,  New  York  State  Food  Supply  Commission,  under  date  of  August  6,  1917. 

"  Letter  from  Wilfred  Wheeler,  Secretary,  State  Board  of  Agriculture  of 
Massachusetts  under  date  of  August  6,  1917. 


Labor,  Credit  and  Other  Production  Problems      221 

partments  and  employed  men  whose  business  it  is  to  investigate  the 
application  of  farmers,  for  credit.^^ 

Mr.  J.  F.  Jones,  Director  of  Agricultural  Extension  of  Virginia, 
states  that  the  bankers  of  that  state  have  been  most  loyal  in  sup- 
porting farmers  in  their  efforts  to  increase  the  production  of  food- 
stuffs. Many  thousands  of  dollars  have  been  loaned  to  farmers  who 
were  only  good  moral  risks.  In  a  number  of  counties  the  banks 
pooled  their  money  and  loaned  it  to  farmers  who  were  recommended 
by  the  county  demonstration  agent  or  by  disinterested  rehable 
farmers.  In  many  instances,  large  quantities  of  seed  were  pur- 
chased through  the  efforts  of  bankers,  county  agents  and  chambers 
of  commerce,  and  sold  to  farmers  at  cost. 

It  is  yet  too  early  to  predict  what  method  of  securing  credit 
will  prove  most  satisfactory.  It  would  seem  that  the  local  bank 
is  in  the  position  to  render  the  greatest  financial  assistance  to  the 
farmer  in  short-time  loans.  The  Federal  Farm  Loan  Bank  enables 
the  farmer  to  secure  long-time  loans  on  first  mortgage  on  his  land 
but  does  not  aid  him  in  securing  funds  for  temporary  use.  Many 
small  banks  find  it  difficult  to  find  loans  for  their  accumulated 
deposits,  and,  instead  of  lending  money  on  paper  recommended,  but 
not  guaranteed,  by  the  larger  financial  centers,  they  might  place 
their  funds  just  as  safely  in  their  immediate  localities,  to  the  mutual 
advantage  of  all  concerned  in  the  community.  These  problems  will 
not  be  solved  except  by  cooperation  and  this  is  one  of  the  lessons 
that  is  being  learned  in  this  crisis. 

"  The  Plymouth  Trust  Company  of  Brockton  has  for  two  years  employed  two 
men,  graduates  of  the  Massachusetts  Agricultural  College,  to  aid  the  farmer  in 
applying  business  methods  to  the  business  of  farming.  The  object  of  the 
directors  of  the  institution  was  to  get  acquainted  with  them  so  as  to  make  a  busi- 
ness-hke  application  of  credits  to  those  engaged  in  this  important  industry.  This 
bank  has  helped  the  farmers  of  their  vicinity  to  buy  seed,  Uvestock,  etc.,  and 
stimulated  production  by  offering  prizes  to  the  young  people  on  the  farm.  It  is 
showing  the  farmer  how  to  keep  cost  accounts  and  how  to  make  out  statements; 
in  short,  to  know  his  business,  both  from  the  technical  and  from  the  business 
standpoint.  To  worthy  persons  they  stand  ready  to  make  a  small  loan  to  be 
used  for  construction  work  or  for  improvements,  under  the  supervision  of  the 
bank's  field  agents.  Every  banker  will  ask  himself.  Does  it  pay?  It  has  cost 
the  Plymouth  County  Trust  Company  about  $4,000  a  year  net  to  supply  this 
service  to  farmers  in  and  about  Brockton,  but  as  a  result  of  this  and  similar  activ- 
ities, the  deposits  have  increased  in  the  past  five  years  from  $400,000  to  over 
$3,000,000. 


222  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

Another  method  aiding  the  farmer  is  illustrated  by  the  work 
of  the  State  Food  Supply  Commission  of  the  state  of  New  York.^^ 
Realizing  the  shortage  of  farm  labor  in  their  section  the  commission 
purchased  forty  tractors  to  be  loaned  to  the  various  communities. 
The  tractor  was  not  hired  to  an  individual.  The  community  was 
given  the  option  of  purchasing  the  tractor  at  the  end  of  the  season, 
the  rental  being  deducted  from  the  purchase  price.  The  charges 
for  the  tractors  were  the  actual  estimated  depreciation.  The  cost 
per  acre  varied  from  $1.50  to  $.55  per  acre.  In  order  to  supply 
sufficient  technical  aid  in  operating  the  tractors  the  commission 
employed  an  expert  from  the  Department  of  Rural  Engineering  at 
the  State  College  of  Agriculture.  This  method  of  aiding  the  farmer 
in  getting  more  labor  should  be  fairly  satisfactory  although  much 
will  depend  upon  the  cooperation  of  the  various  farmers.  The 
tractors  were  loaned  to  the  County  Farm  Bureau  Association  and 
the  County  Home  Defense  Committee  and  other  responsible  farm 
organizations.  The  state  commission  depends  upon  its  county 
representative  to  satisfy  himself  that  the  conditions  of  the  contract 
are  fulfilled. 

In  the  state  of  Virginia  the  farmer  is  aided  in  securing  lime  by 
the  state  which  operates  the  grinding  plants  and  furnishes  the 
farmer  with  the  ground  lime  stone  at  cost.  At  present  the  ground 
lime  stone  costs  the  farmer  $1.00  per  ton  on  board  cars. 

The  agricultural  survey  inaugurated  by  many  states  at  the 
beginning  of  this  j^ear  has  revealed  some  interesting  facts.  It  has 
shown  that  many  farms  are  not  properly  organized  from  the  stand- 
point of  farm  management.  For  instance,  in  Delaware  it  was 
found  that  many  farmers  carried  one-fourth  to  one-third  more 
horses  than  were  needed  to  carry  on  the  work  satisfactorily.  In 
fact,  there  were  far  more  horses  than  hogs  on  the  average  Delaware 
farm.  The  number  of  horses  might  easily  be  reduced  if  larger  units 
of  machinery  were  employed.  Larger  horses  were  also  needed  as  a 
rule.  In  many  cases  four-horse  teams  might  be  employed  in  place 
of  so  many  two-horse  teams,  thus  saving  man  labor.  Larger  units 
of  horse  power  and  machinery  would  lessen  the  necessity  of  keeping 
so  many  men  on  the  farm.  The  survey  in  Delaware  showed  that 
farmers  often  asked  for  additional  help  when  they  already  had  more 
men  on  the  place  than  could  be  economically  used  with  their  type 

"  Bulletin  No.  3.     New  York  State  Food  Supply  Commission,  July  9,  1917. 


Labor,  Credit  and  Other  Production  Problems      223 

of  farming.  There  is  some  waste  of  labor  on  farms  as  well  as  else- 
where. In  New  York  it  was  found  that  the  farmers  were  keeping 
8,000  head  of  horses  above  their  requirements.  When  it  is  con- 
sidered that  it  costs  $100  per  year  to  keep  a  work  horse  it  will  be 
seen  that  there  is  a  clear  waste  of  $800,000  to  the  farmers  of  the 
state.  The  farm  management  surveys  conducted  in  the  various 
states  during  the  past  few  years  show  that  in  the  East  fewer  acres 
are  cultivated  per  horse  and  man  than  in  the  Middle  West.  The 
difference  in  the  amount  of  land  operated  per  man  is  much  greater 
than  the  natural  differences  of  soil  and  climate  would  indicate. 

The  final  solution  of  the  problems  of  labor  and  credit  have  not 
been  reached  by  the  activities  of  the  last  few  months.  There  are 
many  phases  of  the  problem  upon  which  we  need  more  experimental 
evidence.     However,  there  are  a  few  facts  which  seem  fairly  clear. 

1.  That  there  is  a  shortage  of  labor  on  the  farm.  The  indi- 
cations are  that  this  shortage  will  be  more  acute  in  1918  than  at 
present,  owing  to  the  withdrawal  of  drafted  men. 

2.  That  the  country  as  a  whole  does  not  suffer  so  much  from 
a  lack  of  labor  as  from  a  poor  distribution  of  labor. 

3.  That  organization  is  necessary  in  order  to  bring  about  the 
localization  and  distribution  of  labor.  The  state  appears  to  be  the 
best  unit  for  accomplishing  this  end. 

4.  That  the  industries  and  the  farm  must  cooperate  if  labor  is  to 
be  used  economically.  Farmers  particularly  must  cooperate  in 
order  to  secure  help  of  the  proper  kind. 

5.  That  most  farmers  have  facilities  for  short-time  loans  at  their 
local  banks.  Greater  business  cooperation  of  bankers  and  farmers 
is  much  needed. 


THE  NECESSITY  FOR  GOVERNMENT  REGULATION  OF 
PRICES   IN   WAR  TIME 

By  Charles  R.  Van  Hise, 
President,  University  of  Wisconsin,  Madison. 

As  showing  the  effect  of  the  war  conditions  upon  prices  there 
are  here  introduced  two  tables  prepared  by  the  Bureau  of  Labor 
Statistics  showing  the  average  wholesale  prices  of  twenty-six 
important  commodities  and  the  average  retail  prices  of  eighteen 
foods  for  the  month  of  July  during  the  years  1914,  1915  and  1916, 
and  for  each  of  the  first  six  months  of  the  year  1917  during  which 
time  the  advance  in  prices  has  been  most  rapid. 

For  a  number  of  years,  indeed  since  1897,  there  has  been  a 
steady  upward  tendencj'  for  prices,  the  cumulative  effect  of  which 
was  large.  However,  the  outbreak  of  the  war,  because  of  the 
unsettled  commercial  conditions,  had  the  immediate  effect  of 
generally  staying  advancing  prices  and  depressing  some;  and  the 
permanent  tendency  for  rising  prices  did  not  fully  assert  itself 
until  nearly  a  year  later;  and,  even  then,  the  advances  for  most 
commodities  were  rather  small.  Notable  exceptions  to  this  state- 
ment were  wheat  and  flour,  the  prices  of  which  promptly  advanced. 

By  July,  1915,  the  upward  swing  had  everywhere  established 
itself,  the  wholesale  prices  of  nearly  all  of  the  commodities  listed 
being  higher  than  in  July,  1914,  and  some  of  them  twice  as  high. 
The  wholesale  prices  in  June,  1916,  as  compared  with  those  of  1914 
show  that  the  most  important  commodities  were  from  50  to  400 
per  cent  higher  than  in  1914. 

For  the  more  important  commodities  the  wholesale  prices  of 
June,  1916,  as  compared  with  July,  1914,  just  before  the  outbreak 
of  the  war  were  roughly  as  follows : 

Meat  animals  and  meat,  25  to  75  per  cent  higher; 
Wheat  and  flour,  more  than  2\  times  as  much; 
Corn  and  cornmeal,  more  than  double; 
Potatoes,  more  than  2\  times  as  much; 
Sugar,  more  than  double; 

Cotton  and  cotton  yarns,  a  little  less  than  twofold ; 

224 


Government  Regulation  of  Prices  225 


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The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


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Government  Regulation  of  Prices  227 

Wool  and  worsted,  more  than  twofold; 
Bituminous  coal,  more  than  2^  times  as  much; 
Copper,  more  than  2^  times  as  much; 
Pig  lead,  nearly  fourfold ; 
Pig  iron,  more  than  threefold ; 
Steel  billets,  more  than  fourfold; 
Spelter,  nearly  double; 
Petroleum,  almost  double. 

Retail  prices  of  the  foods  given  in  the  second  table  show 
advances  corresponding  to  the  wholesale  rates. 

The  facts  presented  show  that  for  the  essential  commodities 
of  food  and  clothing,  coal  and  the  metals  and  their  manufactured 
products,  the  prices  have  greatly  advanced  during  the  past  two 
years,  and  the  prices  given  for  June,  1917  are  not  maximum  prices. 
Since  that  month  prices  have  continued  to  advance.  This  is 
illustrated  by  the  price  for  cotton  and  hogs,  which  since  that  time 
have  made  record  prices. 

In  order  to  gauge  the  changes  during  the  past  year  there  are 
here  inserted  the  prices  of  some  of  the  more  important  commodi- 
ties for  August  1,  1917,  as  compared  with  August  1,  1916: 

Crop 

Wheat  Per  bushel 

Corn  Per  bushel 

Barley  Per  bushel 

Rye  Per  bushel 

White  potatoes  Per  bushel 

Cotton  Per  pound 

For  each  of  these  important  commodities  the  prices  within  the 
year,  with  the  single  exception  of  white  potatoes,  have  more  than 
doubled.  These  are  indeed  amazing  advances  in  prices.  The 
advances  must  not  only  stop,  but  there  must  be  recession  in  the 
prices  of  necessities  to  reasonable  amounts. 

The  unexampled  prices  of  all  commodities  have  placed  a  heavy 
burden  upon  the  consumer  and  especially  the  consumers  who  are 
on  a  monthly  salary  or  a  day  wage,  and  these  constitute  the  great 
proportion  of  the  population.  It  is  true  that  there  have  been 
advances  in  wages,  in  some  cases  several  advances,  but  these 
together  seldom  amount  to  more  than  25  or  at  most  50  per  cent; 
and  therefore  they  are  not  at  all  in  proportion  to  the  increased 


1916 

1917 

in  cents 

in  cents 

107.1 

228.9 

79.4 

196.6 

59.3 

114.5 

83.4 

178.1 

95.4 

170.8 

12.6 

24.3 

228  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

cost  of  living.  Since  the  exaggerated  prices  have  imposed  hardship 
upon  all  people  of  moderate  means,  the  situation  has  aroused  general 
alarm.  Serious  trouble  is  likely  to  confront  us  the  coming  winter 
unless  relief  is  obtained.  If  the  war  is  to  be  won,  economic  con- 
ditions must  be  made  such  that  those  who  have  a  small  income  will 
be  treated  justly. 

The  Causes  of  Mounting  Prices 

One  fundamental  cause  of  the  mounting  prices  is  the  unusual 
and  extraordinary  demand  from  abroad  for  all  essential  commodities. 
However,  this  has  only  been  one  factor  in  the  process. 

When  it  was  once  appreciated  that  there  was  a  relative  shortage 
of  the  essential  commodities,  the  home  purchasers,  instead  of 
buying  ordinary  amounts,  purchased  in  advance  of  their  needs. 
Thus  the  family,  instead  of  buying  flour  by  the  sack  bought  a 
number  of  barrels.  The  same  is  true  in  regard  to  sugar.  Similarly 
during  the  spring  and  summer  of  1917,  when  it  was  appreciated  that 
there  was  a  shortage  in  coal,  many  manufacturers  were  trying  to 
protect  their  businesses  by  accumulating  reserves  to  carry  them 
through  the  winter.  The  same  was  true  of  those  who  desired  coal 
for  heat.  The  consequence  was  that  the  demand  of  purchasers 
was  far  beyond  what  would  have  been  necessary  to  meet  actual 
needs  had  the  ordinary  procedure  been  followed.  This  frenzy  of 
excessive  buying  has  greatly  aggravated  the  situation. 

Another  most  important  cause  of  the  enhancing  prices  was  that 
a  time  when  there  is  great  demand  is  especially  advantageous  for 
speculators  to  accumulate  great  stores  of  goods  of  various  kinds 
and  hold  them  for  advances  in  prices.  This  was  done  on  a  great 
scale  throughout  the  country  for  every  essential  commodity. 

In  the  space  allowed  it  is  not  practicable  to  summarize  and 
discuss  the  measures  which  the  government  has  taken  to  control 
prices  and  profits.  The  most  important  of  these  measures  is  the 
so-called  Food  Production  Act,  which  gives  very  large  powers  in 
regard  to  control  of  prices,  not  only  for  all  foods  but  for  fuel. 
This  law  is  supplemented  by  other  laws.  The  enforcement  of  the 
Food  Production  law  has  been  placed  in  the  hands  of  food  and  fuel 
administrators,  and  also  the  principles  which  have  been  applied  in 
regard  to  the  control  of  prices  of  food  and  fuel  have  been  extended 
by  agreement  to  other  important  commodities,  notably  steel  and 


Government  Regulation  of  Prices  229 

iron.  In  short,  under  war  conditions,  we  have  abandoned  the 
principles  that  the  laws  of  supply  and  demand  and  competition 
are  adequate  to  the  control  prices  of  commodities,  and  we  are  de- 
pending primarily  upon  governmental  regulation. 

Finally,  when  the  conditions  are  as  above,  it  is  especially  easy 
for  those  in  a  given  line  of  business  at  a  particular  locality  to  co- 
operate to  push  prices  upward  and  thus  greatly  increase  the  profits 
of  their  business.  This  also  was  done  on  a  vast  scale  for  many 
commodities. 

Based  upon  the  first  factor,  the  second,  third,  and  fourth 
factors  have  come  in  each  with  reinforcing  power  to  accelerate 
prices.  The  tendencies  above  described,  once  started,  are  cumula- 
tive ;  and  the  enhancement  of  prices  goes  on  with  increasing  velocity. 
The  prices  of  foods  are  advanced;  the  employes  must  have  higher 
pay  because  of  the  increased  cost  of  food;  the  raw  materials  for 
manufactured  articles  are  advanced;  the  manufacturer  charges  a 
higher  price  for  his  articles  because  he  must  pay  more  for  his  labor 
and  an  increased  price  for  his  raw  materials.  At  each  stage  the 
advance  of  prices  is  made  more  than  sufficient  to  cover  the  additional 
cost.  The  cycle  thus  completed  is  begun  again  with  food,  and  the 
circle  once  more  gone  around.  The  second  cycle  completed,  the 
conditions  are  right  for  a  third  cycle,  and  so  on  indefinitely  with  the 
result  that  prices  have  been  and  still  are  rising  beyond  all  reason, 
like  a  spiral  ascending  to  the  sky. 

Failure  of  Law^  of  Supply  and  Demand  and  Competition 

The  facts  which  have  been  presented  show  that  the  law  of 
supply  and  demand  and  competition  adequately  to  control  prices 
has  broken  down,  for  the  simple  reason  that  for  every  staple  com- 
modity the  demand  is  greater  than  the  supply.  In  normal  years 
before  the  war  the  potential  capacity  of  the  United  States  for 
almost  every  essential  commodity  was  greater  than  the  home 
demand.  The  agricultural  lands  were  developed  so  as  to  produce 
a  large  surplus,  all  that  could  be  marketed  at  home  and  abroad  at 
a,  reasonable  price.  The  coal  mines  were  so  developed  that  they 
could  produce  many  million  tons  more  than  the  market  demanded. 
Steel  and  iron  mills  similarly  were  developed  so  as  to  meet  not 
ionly  the  ordinary  demand,  but  to  respond  quickly  to  -excep- 
tional   demand?      Under   these    circumstances  the   prices,   if  not 


I 


230  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

adequately  controlled,  had  been  largely  controlled  by  supply  and 
demand,  except  where  there  had  been  cooperation  of  purchasers  or 
manipulators  or  both,  to  control  the  market. 

The  Excess  Demand 

The  situation  was  wholly  changed  by  the  world  war.  For 
every  important  commodity  the  demand  exceeds  the  supply.  For 
the  staple  foods  the  demand  is  greater  than  any  possible  supply. 
For  coal  the  demand  exceeds  the  capacity  for  delivery.  For  steel 
the  demand  is  far  beyond  the  capacity  of  all  mills. 

It  is  not  possible  to  give  average  percentages  of  the  extent  to 
which  the  demand  exceeds  the  supply;  but  it  is  safe  to  say  that  the 
percentage  upon  the  average  would  not  be  large,  probably  not  more 
than  20  per  cent,  and  for  scarcely  any  commodity  more  than  30  or 
40  per  cent.  However,  this  moderate  excess  demand  of  say  20  per 
cent,  taken  in  connection  with  buying  in  advance  of  needs,  of  fore- 
stalling by  speculators  and  combinations  to  control  the  market,  has 
been  sufficient  to  increase  the  prices  of  many  essential  commodities 
by  100,  200,  300,  and  even  400  per  cent,  and  for  certain  articles 
by  greater  amounts.  There  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  the  excess 
demand  will  decrease  in  the  near  future;  indeed  it  is  probable  that 
for  the  coming  year  it  will  increase. 

Notwithstanding  the  extraordinary  efforts  to  increase  pro- 
duction which  our  entrance  in  the  war  has  created,  vast  new  require- 
ments for  war  equipment  of  all  kinds,  including  foods,  textiles, 
leather,  metals  for  guns,  munitions,  etc.,  have  kept  the  demand 
beyond  the  supply.  At  the  same  time  this  demand  is  created, 
there  are  taken  from  active  production  in  this  country  more  than  a 
million  men. 

The  allies  probably  have  20,000,000  men  in  the  field  and 
20,000,000  more  that  are  directly  connected  with  producing  muni- 
tions and  materials  for  war  consumption.  Fertilizers  have  been 
lacking.  In  consequence  of  these  facts  and  despite  the  most  earnest 
and  successful  efforts  of  the  British  and  French  to  greatly  increase 
their  acreage  crops,  especially  wheat,  their  crops  are  certainly 
wholly  inadequate  to  feed  the  people  of  these  countries;  for  under 
normal  conditions,  hundreds  of  millions  of  bushels  of  grain  and 
vast  quantities  of  meats  have  been  imported  from  the  United  States 
by  England  and  France  and  smaller  amounts  by  Italy. 


Government  Regulation  of  Prices  231 

The  Necessities  of  the  Allies  Must  be  Met 

It  is  just  as  imperative  that  we  furnish  the  alHes  with  the 
necessary  foods,  munitions  and  railroad  equipment,  as  it  is  that 
we  supply  our  own  armies.  Their  armies  are  doing  precisely  the 
work  that  the  United  States  Army  is  doing,  only  on  a  vastly  larger 
scale.  The  sacrifices  of  the  British,  French  and  Italians  have  been 
immeasurably  greater  than  our  own;  therefore  it  is  but  a  small 
thing  to  insure  their  securing  the  commodities  that  are  essential  to 
carry  the  war  to  a  successful  conclusion. 

Enormous  Excess  Profits 

Under  the  conditions  described  above,  it  is  inevitable  that  the 
profits  of  the  great  corporations  dealing  in  the  essential  commodities 
should  be  excessive.  There  has  been  nothing  comparable  to  the 
profits  of  the  present  war  in  the  history  of  civilization.  In  the 
United  States,  the  most  exploitive  profiteering  of  the  days  of  the 
Civil  War  was  trivial  as  compared  with  the  enormous  sums  which 
have  been  obtained  during  the  present  war  by  the  great  corporations 
dealing  in  the  essential  commodities. 

By  "excess  profits"  is  meant  the  amount  which  the  profits  of 
the  war  times  exceed  those  of  normal  times  before  the  war. 

Cereals.  There  are  no  available  figures  showing  the  amount 
of  the  excess  profits  for  those  producing  and  handling  the  cereals 
for  the  war  period  as  compared  with  the  conditions  before  the  war. 
To  obtain  accurate  figures  in  this  matter  is  exceedingly  difficult 
because  the  profits  are  distributed  among  the  producers  of  grain, 
dealers,  millers,  jobbers  and  retailers.  Mr.  Herbert  Hoover  in  a 
statement  before  the  Senate  committee  on  agriculture,  June  19, 
1917,  stated  that  "in  the  last  five  months  on  the  item  of  flour  alone 
$250,000,000  has  been  extracted  from  the  American  consumer  in 
excess  of  the  normal  profits  of  manufacturers  and  distributers." 
If  this  statement  is  correct,  the  total  excess  profits  made  upon  the 
grains  during  the  last  year  must  amount  to  more  than  a  billion 
dollars  and  may  have  reached  two  billion  dollars. 

Meats.  According  to  figures  presented  by  one  of  the  treasury 
experts  to  the  finance  committee  of  the  Senate,  the  profits  of  1916, 
as  compared  with  1914  and  the  excess  profits  of  four  big  packing 
companies  of  Chicago  were  as  follows : 


232  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


Amounts  of  increase 

Corporation 

1914 

1916 

of  war  profits 

Armour  and  Company- 

$7,509,908 

$20,100,000 

$12,590,092 

Swift  and  Company 

9,450,000 

20,465,000 

11,015,000 

Morris  and  Company  I 

2,205,672 

3,832,213 

1,626,541 

Wikon  and  Company 

1,511,528* 

4,913,873 

3,402,345 

$20,677,108 

$49,311,086 

$28,633,978 

It  should  be  understood,  however,  that  the  excess  profits  of 
5,633,978  are  not  exclusively  from  meats,  for  the  reason  that 
these  packing  companies  are  engaged  in  allied  industries  and  an 
unknown  portion  of  them  are  from  other  sources  than  meat. 

Metals.  In  regard  to  the  excess  profits  in  metals,  Senator 
Simmons  on  August  10.  1917,  presented  to  the  Senate  figures  com- 
piled by  J.  P.  Morgan  and  Company  showing  the  excess  profits  for 
1916  as  compared  with  1914  of  some  of  the  larger  metal  manufac- 
turies  as  follows: 

United  States  Steel  Corporation  $207,945,000 

Bethlehem  Steel  Company  53,715,000 

Anaconda  Copper  Mining  Company  39,087,000 

General  Electric  Company  6,523,000 

American  Smelting  and  Refining  Co.  11,158,000 


Total  for  the  five  corporations  $318,428,000 

Petroleum.  In  regard  to  the  excess  profits  of  petroleum,  theses 
for  1916  are  stated,  on  the  same  authority,  to  be  for  the  Standard 
Oil  Company  of  New  York  $20,425,000. 

Manufactured  Coynmodities.  The  excess  profits  of  manufactured 
products  other  than  the  metals  have  been  similarly  large.  From  the 
same  authority  the  excess  profits  of  the  duPont  Powder  Company 
for  1916  are  placed  at  $76,581,000;  for  the  Corn  Products  Company 
at  $3,798,000;  and  for  the  United  States  Rubber  Company  at 
$4,537,000. 

Forty-eight  Corporations.  It  is  also  stated  that  the  excess 
profits  of  forty-eight  corporations  which  include  the  above  men- 
tioned with  others  for  1916  as  compared  with  1914  amounted  to 
$659,858,490. 

Coal.  No  figures  are  available  which  will  show  the  excess 
profits  of  the  miners  of  coal  for  1916  and  1917  as  compared  with 

*15  months. 


GOVEHNMENT    REGULATION    OF   PrICES  233 

years  antecedent  to  the  war.  However,  the  enhancement  of 
prices  from  two  to  fourfold  makes  it  certain  that  these  profits  for  the 
entire  United  States  in  the  fiscal  year  1916-1917  amounted  to 
hundreds  of  milhons  of  dollars,  possibly  to  a  billion  dollars  or  more. 

Transportation.  The  general  increase  in  profits  has  also  been 
shared  by  transportation.  Senator  Simmons  in  the  report  men- 
tioned gives  the  excess  profits  of  the  Pennsylvania  Railway  Com- 
pany for  1916  as  compared  with  1914  as  $11,741,000,  and  for  the 
"Big  Four,"  $5,843,000. 

Wood.  The  foregoing  statements  have  not  included  the  wood 
industries  but  if  they  had  been  included,  we  should  have  had 
similar  facts  in  regard  to  the  enormous  increase  in  production, 
increased  exportation  and  greatly  enhanced  prices  for  the  wood 
products;  indeed  the  enhancement  of  prices  has  been  so  great  in 
the  case  of  paper  and  the  situation  so  acute,  that  the  Federal  Trade 
Commission  has  stated  that  the  production  of  paper,  both  for 
print  and  book,  "is  vested  with  a  public  interest." 

The  Federal  Trade  Commission  in  a  letter  dated  June  13,  1917 
to  the  president  of  the  Senate,  recommended  governmental  control 
of  the  production  of  print  and  book  paper.  The  letter  stated  if  in 
1917  the  same  tonnage  is  produced  as  in  1916  at  the  price  prevailing 
in  June,  the  1917  output  would  cost  $105,000,000  whereas  the  cost 
of  this  amount  in  1916  was  $70,000,000.  It  said  further  that  at 
least  50  per  cent  of  this  increase  of  $35,000,000  would  be  excess 
profits  over  those  of  1916,  the  prices  for  print  and  book  paper  being 
from  65  to  84  per  cent  higher  than  in  1915.  The  average  profits  of 
forty-one  of  the  book  making  paper  mills  for  1916  were  100  per  cent 
more  than  for  the  previous  year. 

The  situation  was  regarded  as  so  serious  that  the  commission 
recommended  as  a  war  emergency  measure  that  all  mills  and 
agencies  in  the  United  States  producing  and  distributing  print 
paper  and  mechanical  and  chemical  pulp  be  operated  by  the  govern- 
ment through  suitable  agencies,  and  that  the  products  be  equitably 
distributed  at  fair  prices.  It  was  also  recommended  that  because 
so  much  of  the  newspaper  print  paper  comes  from  Canada  to  the 
United  States  that  the  government  of  Canada  be  asked  to  create 
agencies  to  act  jointly  with  similar  agencies  from  the  United  States 
for  the  protection  of  consumers;  and  that  in  case  the  Canadian 
government  would  not  join  in  the  enterprise  that  the  exportation  of 


« 


234  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

paper  and  paper  material  into  the  United  States  should  be  made 
only  on  government  account  through  the  federal  agency  recom- 
mended by  the  commission. 

Other  Industries.  A  full  discussion  of  the  industrial  situation 
would  show  advances  in  prices  and  increased  war  profits  in  the 
production  of  scores  of  finished  commodities  other  than  those 
already  considered,  whether  the  material  be  foods,  meats,  metals 
or  wood,  or  some  combination  of  one  or  more  of  these. 

Conclusion  Regarding  Excess  Profits 

The  foregoing  facts  show  that  war  conditions  have  been  taken 
advantage  of  Vjy  corporations  generally  throughout  the  United 
States  to  exact  excessive  profits.  Indeed  in  many  cases  the  demands 
for  commodities  have  been  so  pressing  and  the  enhanced  prices  so 
great  as  to  make  the  exactions  amount  to  extortion.  When  prices 
for  essentials  are  increased  two,  three  or  fourfold  and  result  in 
profits  beyond  the  dreams  of  any  imagination  before  the  war,  it 
cannot  be  said  that  the  appeal  of  President  Wilson  to  have  men  in 
business  and  industry  on  patriotic  grounds  not  to  practice  profiteer- 
ing has  led  to  any  substantial  results.  Nor  can  it  reasonably  be 
expected  that  such  an  appeal  would  have  been  successful.  When 
all  lines  of  business  are  following  the  same  practice,  it  cannot  be 
expected  that  one  corporation  or  one  business  man  shall  depart 
from  the  practices  of  the  others. 

Further  Attempts  to  Control  by  Indictment 

As  before  the  war  there  have  been  attempts  to  prevent  co- 
operation and  thus  control  prices  and  profits  through  prosecution 
under  the  Sherman  Act.  Thus  on  May  24,  1917,  by  the  federal 
grand  jury  at  Boston  eighty-eight  dealers  were  indicted  for  violating 
the  anti-trust  law  to  control  the  entire  crop  of  onions  to  enhance  the 
prices  of  that  product.  On  June  2  the  federal  grand  jury  at  Chicago 
brought  indictment  against  twenty-five  individuals  and  firms  acting 
on  the  Chicago  Butter  and  Egg  Board,  who  were  charged  with 
manipulating  the  markets  to  increase  the  price  of  eggs.  In  New 
York  it  was  announced  June  19,  that  fifty-one  coal  operators  and 
one  hundred  and  two  corporations  were  put  on  trial  before  the 
United  States  district  court  for  violating  the  Sherman  Anti-trust 
Act  by  combining  to  increase  and  fix  the  price  of  certain  coals. 
Other  indictments  have  been  made  along  the  same  line. 


1 


Food  Prices  vs.  Wage  Increases  235 

Some  of  the  prosecutions,  notably  that  relating  to  coal,  have 
been  abandoned;  others  have  been  continued.  However,  whether 
the  prosecutions  are  few  or  more,  are  abandoned  or  continued,  they 
have  been  utterly  futile  to  prevent  general  cooperation  to  control 
the  market  and  thus  enhance  prices  for  all  essential  commodities. 
The  failure  in  these  respects  has  been  just  as  complete  as  was  failure 
along  similar  lines  before  the  world  war. 

The  facts  presented  in  the  foregoing  pages  demonstrate  beyond 
doubt  that  we  cannot  rely  upon  the  laws  of  supply  and  demand  and 
competition  to  meet  the  situation  under  war  conditions.  The 
only  possible  way  in  which  prices  and  profits  can  be  reduced  to 
reasonable  amounts  is  by  governmental  action. 


FOOD   PRICES  VS.   WAGE   INCREASES 

A  STUDY  AS  TO  THE  TREND  OF  REAL  WAGES  IN 
PHILADELPHIA 

By  Raymond  T.  Bye,  A.M., 

Instructor  in  Economics,  University  of  Pennsylvania 

AND 

Charles  Reitell,   Ph.D., 

Professor  of  Commerce,  Lawrence  College. 

Editor's  Note 

Immediately  after  the  food  riots  in  the  streets  of  Philadelphia 
last  winter.  Mayor  Smith  appointed  a  Food  Inquiry  Committee  to 
investigate  the  situation.  One  of  the  many  problems  that  pre- 
sented itself  to  this  committee  was  the  determination  of  the  trend 
in  food  prices  as  compared  ^vith  the  trend  in  wages  to  ascertain 
whether  there  were  substantial  reasons  for  discontent.  Mr.  Ray- 
mond T.  Bye  was  asked  to  undertake  a  study  of  the  trend  of  food 
prices  and  Dr.  Charles  Reitell  a  similar  study  of  the  trend  in  wages. 
With  the  consent  of  the  city  authorities  the  Editor  has  secured  the 
results  of  these  two  investigations  for  publication  in  The  Annals. 
The  two  articles  which  follow  thus  constitute  a  joint  investigation 
intended  to  determine  the  movement  of  real  wages  in  Philadelphia 
over  the  period  from  January  1,  1916  to  March  10,  1917. 


236  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

THE    TREND    IN    FOOD    PRICES 
Raymond  T.  Bye,  A.M. 

It  needs  no  elaborate  array  of  statistical  data  to  inform  the 
American  housewife  of  the  trend  in  food  prices.  From  the  growing 
slimness  of  her  marketing  purse  she  knows,  and  her  husband  knows, 
that, the  trend  is  upward.  To  understand  the  real  significance  of 
this  movement,  however,  it  is  necessary  to  measure  the  exact  rate  of 
the  increase  in  prices,  in  order  that  this  increase  may  be  compared 
with  the  changes  in  wages.  If  money  wages  are  rising  as  fast  as 
prices,  the  worker's  real  income  is  as  large  as  before  and  the  increase 
of  prices  is  of  no  real  significance;  but  if  wages  are  rising  less  rapidly 
than  prices  the  standard  of  living  of  the  workers  is  falling  and  we  are 
face  to  face  with  a  deteriorating  society.  It  is  the  purpose  of  the 
present  article  to  state  precisely  what  the  recent  trend  of  prices  in 
Philadelphia  has  been.  The  figures  may  then  serve  as  a  basis  for 
comparison  with  the  wage  statistics  given  by  Dr.  Reitell  in  the  latter 
part  of  this  article. 

When  this  study  was  undertaken  for  the  Mayor's  Committee 
on  Food  Prices  it  soon  became  apparent  that  it  would  be  very 
difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  trace  for  very  many  months  back 
the  changes  in  retail  prices,  owing  to  the  fact  that  the  dealers  them- 
selves do  not  keep  a  record  of  their  own  past  prices.  The  United 
States  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics,  however,  has  for  some  years  been 
receiving  retail  food  price  quotations  from  certain  representative 
stores  in  various  cities,  and  it  very  courteously  consented  to  the  use 
of  its  Philadelphia  quotations  for  this  study.  Upon  them  most  of 
the  charts  and  tables  used  here  are  based.  Through  the  coopera- 
tion of  the  Philadelphia  Society  for  Organizing  Charity,  which  lent 
its  district  workers  to  the  task,  it  was  also  possible  to  make  a  detailed 
study  of  the  food  prices  in  March,  1917  in  some  two  hundred  Phila- 
delphia stores.  The  writer,  therefore,  cannot  lay  claim  to  a  great 
deal  of  independent  research  in  gathering  the  data  for  this  article, 
but  frankly  acknowledges  his  indebtedness  to  the  sources  named. 
The  study  embraces  the  period  from  January,  1915  to  August,  1917, 
inclusive. 

While  a  gradual  increase  in  food  prices  has  been  a  normal  phe- 
nomenon in  this  country  over  a  long  period  of  years,  it  is  the  extreme 
accentuation  of  this  tendency  within  the  past  year  that  has  caused 


Food  Prices  vs.  Wage  Increases  237 

such  general  alarm  and  resulted  in  food  riots.  The  changes  in  the 
price  of  twenty-two  principal  articles  of  food  in  Philadelphia,  shown 
in  Chart  1,  makes  this  very  clear.  This  chart  shows  the  average 
price  of  twenty-two  articles  of  food  which  have  been  selected  by  the 
United  States  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics  as  representing  over  two- 
thirds  of  the  average  family  expenditure  for  food  in  this  part  of  the 
country  as  determined  by  an  actual  study  of  family  budgets.^  The 
twenty-two  articles  of  food  on  which  the  chart  is  based  are  as 
follows : 

Sirloin  steak  Butter 

Round  steak  Cheese 

Rib  roast  Milk 

Chuck  roast  Bread 

Plate  boiling  beef  Flour 

Pork  chops  Rice 

Bacon  Potatoes 

Ham  Sugar 

Lard  Commeal 

Hens        '  Coffee 

Eggs  Tea 

A  simple  average  of  the  prices  of  these  twenty-two  articles 
would  be  inaccurate,  for  a  change  in  the  price  of  a  commodity  like 
flour  or  potatoes  would  have  a  far  greater  effect  on  the  family  budget 
than  a  corresponding  change  in  the  price  of  cheese.  The  food 
prices  were  therefore  "weighted"  by  multiplying  them  with  the 
average  quantity  of  each  article  consumed  in  workingmen's  families.^ 
The  curve  is  thus  a  graphic  representation  of  this  weighted  average 
of  price  changes  and  fairly  shows  what  may  be  termed  the  "effective" 
price  changes  for  the  period  named  instead  of  the  simple  average 
price  changes.  It  accurately  measures  the  increased  drain  on  the 
family  pocketbook,  not  allowing  for  any  change  in  wages,  occasioned 
by  the  recent  movement  of  food  prices. 

The  chart  shows  that  while  prices  remained  fairly  constant 
throughout  the  year  1915,  in  1916  they  began  slowly  to  rise,  taking  a 
sudden  leap  in  August  of  that  year,  rising  rapidly  almost  unchecked 
until  June,  1917.  Taking  the  average  price  of  all  articles  for  the 
year  1916  as  100,  the  relative  price  in  June,  1917  was  1^5  as  com- 
pared with  89  in  June,  1915,  an  increase  in  two  years  of  63  per  cent. 

^  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics,  Annual  Report,  1901. 
« Ibid. 


238 


The  Annals  or  the  American  Academy 


In  one  year  the  increase  was  48  per  cent.  In  August  of  the  present 
year  prices  had  somewhat  decUned,  but  were  still  60  per  cent  higher 
than  two  years  previously,  the  relative  price  being  141  as  compared 
with  88.  Moreover,  the  fact  that  prices  were  somewhat  lower  in 
August  than  in  June  is  not  to  be  taken  as  an  indication  that  the 


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crest  of  the  wave  has  been  reached,  for  in  July  and  August  of  each 
year  a  slight  fall  in  prices  is  a  normal  phenomenon,  as  shown  by  the 
chart,  followed  by  a  rise  again  in  the  fall.  Indeed  the  curve  shows 
that  the  low  level  for  the  present  year  was  reached  in  June,  when  the 
relative  price  was^l40,^and  that  in  August  the  rise  had  alreadj'-  set 
in  again. 

This  price  increase  can  be  studied  in  greater  detail  in  Table  I, 


Food  Prices  vs.  Wage  Increases 


239 


page  244,  which  shows  the  relative  prices  of  twenty-seven  articles  of 
food  in  Philadelphia,  by  months,  from  January,  1915  to  August, 
1917. 

The  first  column,  "22  Articles  Combined,"  gives  the  weighted 
average  relative  prioes  of  the  twenty-two  articles  of  food  on  which 


CHART   II 


Chart  I  is  based.  Charts  II,  III,  IV,  and  V  show  in  graphic  form  the 
relative  prices  of  some  of  the  more  important  articles  included  in  the 
table.  It  will  be  noted  that  with  the  exception  of  a  very  few  articles 
hke  coffee,  tea  and  rice,  practically  all  of  the  necessities  of  life  went 
up  markedly  in  price  during  the  period  covered  by  the  figures. 
Meats  of  all  kinds  rose  anywhere  from  19  per  cent  to  51  pei'  cent  in 
two  years.     Butter  and  lard  increased  52  and  109  per  cent  respec- 


240 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


lively,  while  eggs  in  August  of  this  year  were  49  per  cent  higher  than 
in  August  of  1915.  Flour,  a  basic  article  of  diet,  took  a  tremendous 
leap  in  the  latter  months  of  1916,  fell  somewhat  in  June  and  July 
but  was  on  the  upward  trend  in  August  again.  Flour  in  May  was  93 
per  cent  higher  than  two  years  previously.  Bread,  of  course,  has 
risen  similarly.     More  pronounced  even  than  these  increases,  how- 


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ever,  were  those  in  potatoes  and  onions,  which  occurred  last  spring. 
Potatoes  are  an  extremely  important  item  to  the  masses  and  it  is  not 
to  be  wondered  at  that  the  high  prices  prevailing  led  to  suffering  and 
rioting.  Potatoes  in  June  of  this  year  were  234  per  cent  higher  than 
in  June,  1915.  Onions  in  April,  1917  had  a  relative  price  of  279  as 
compared  with  64  two  years  previously,  an  increase  of  336  per  cent. 
The  price  of  the  twenty-two  articles  mentioned  above,  multi- 


I 


Food  Prices  vs.  Wage  Increases 


241 


plied  by  the  average  amount  consumed  by  workingmen's  families,' 
represents,  at  the  August,  1917  prices,  an  annual  expenditure  of 
$566.31  per  family.     Assuming  that  this  represents  two-thirds  of  the 


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total  expenditure  for  food,  which  is  approximately  correct,  the 
annual  expenditure  per  family  for  food  at  the  August  level  of  prices 
was  about  $850.  The  corresponding  figure  at  the  August,  1915 
prices  was  $530,  and  at  the  August,  1916  prices,  $590.     The  annual 


*U.  S.  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics,  Annual  Report,  1901. 


242 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


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Food  Prices  vs.  Wage  Increases  243 

cost  per  family  for  food  is  "accordingly  $260  greater  than  it  was  one 
year  ago  and  $320  greater  than  it  was  two  years  ago.  To  a  family 
of  moderate  income  this  means  a  serious  financial  strain.  True,  to 
a  certain  extent  the  increased  cost  of  living  can  be  offset  by  resort  to 
less  expensive  but  equally  wholesome  kinds  of  food,  but  it  is  doubt- 
ful if  this  can  be  of  any  very  great  effect.  The  habits  of  persons  do 
not  change  readily  in  such  matters,  and  those  who  are  likely  to 
suffer  most  by  the  increased  prices  are  usually  too  ignorant  or  lacking 
in  judgment  to  effect  such  a  substitution.  Moreover,  a  change  to 
cheaper  diet  is  a  thing  to  be  deplored  where  it  represents  a  real 
lowering  of  the  standards  of  living  of  the  people.  But  aside  from 
this,  the  rising  costs  have  so  seriously  affected  the  basic  articles  of 
food  like  flour,  potatoes,  sugar,  milk,  etc.,  that  it  is  difficult  to  escape 
them  by  substitution.  In  other  words  the  high  cost  of  living  is  a 
serious  problem,  and  it  has  got  to  be  faced. 

The  writer  was  interested  in  ascertaining  how  far  the  consumer 
has  it  in  his  own  power,  by  discriminative  purchasing  and  selection 
of  dealers,  to  reduce  the  cost  of  living  for  himself.  While  this 
inquiry  was  not  pursued  very  far,  some  interesting  things  were 
brought  to  light.  It  is  well  known  to  economists  that  the  "free 
competition"  which  is  assumed  to  be  the  moving  force  of  our  present 
economic  system  is  not  in  fact  free.  This  is  probably  particularly 
the  case  with  retail  food  dealers.  The  housewife  is  guided  not 
solely  by  her  pocketbook,  but  in  great  measure  by  whims  and 
caprices,  her  likes  and  dislikes.  She  deals  with  this  store  or  that 
because  it  gives  her  social  prestige,  or  because  she  likes  the  proprietor, 
or  because  she  is  given  credit  there,  or  for  a  thousand  other  reasons. 
Were  she  to  buy  always  where  she  got  the  most  value  for  her  money 
she  could  get  her  food  products  considerably  cheaper.  A  study  of 
the  simple  average  price  of  38  articles  of  food  in  some  two  hundred 
Philadelphia  stores  on  March  15,  1917  showed  not  only  a  wide 
variation  between  individual  stores  but  between  whole  districts  of 
the  city.  The  relative  prices  ranged  from  88  in  the  lowest  district 
to  108  in  the  highest,  a  maximum  difference  of  23  per  cent.  There 
is  a  considerable  difference,  too,  between  the  prices  of  the  independ- 
ent stores  and  the  large  scale  chain  dealers.  In  Philadelphia  in 
March,  1917  the  average  prices  of  the  four  largest  chain  stores  were 
7  per  cent  lower  than  the  average  prices  of  two  hundred  independent 
stores.     Were   competition  perfectly  free  the  independent  stores 


^44 


The  Annals  or  the  American  Academy 


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1915 
January. .  . 
Febniary.  . 

March 

April 

May 

June 

July 

AuRust. .  .  . 
September. 
October . . . 
November. 
December  . 

1916 
January. . . 
February. . 

March 

April 

May 

June 

July 

AuKUiit.  . . . 
September. 
October.  .  . 
November. 
December  . 

1917 
January. . 
February.  . 

March 

April 

May 

June 

Food  Prices  vs.  Wage  Increases  245 

could  scarcely  remain  in  business  under  such  circumstances,  yet  the 
Philadelphia  business  directory  shows  that  there  are  about  4,550  in- 
dependent grocers  alone  supplying  food  to  Philadelphia  consumers, 
not  to  mention  the  numerous  meat  dealers. 

However,  this  is  not  a  discussion  of  causes  and  remedies,  but  an 
analysis  of  tendencies.  It  has  shown  that  the  trend  of  food  prices 
is  decidedly  upward,  and  has  accurately  measured  that  trend  for 
Philadelphia.  Moreover,  it  appears  that  the  upward  movement  is 
likely  to  continue.  While  prices  fell  in  July  of  this  year  they  started 
upward  again  in  August,  and  presumably  are  still  on  the  increase. 
So  long  as  the  United  States  continues  to  feed  a  world  whose  pro- 
duction is  curtailed  by  the  ravages  of  war,  and  so  long  as  gold  con- 
tinues to  pour  into  this  country  at  its  present  pace,  prices  may  be 
expected  to  continue  to  rise.  The  question  that  now  presents  itself 
is  that  of  real  wages.  Are  the  money  wages  of  the  masses  keeping 
pace  with  the  trend  in  prices?  If  not,  real  wages  are  falling,  stand- 
ards of  living  are  being  lowered,  and  from  the  standpoint  of  social 
welfare,  we  are  not  prospering.  The  study  of  wage  statistics  which 
follows  will  answer  that  question  for  Philadelphia. 

THE    TREND    IN    WAGES 
Charles  Reitell.  Ph.D. 

The  purpose  of  this  wage  study  undertaken  by  the  writer  for  the 
Mayor's  Food  Committee  was  to  find  out  primarily  what  changes 
had  taken  place  in  individual  wages  paid  in  Philadelphia  from 
January  1,  1916  to  March  10,  1917.  In  order  to  determine  such 
changes  as  thoroughly  and  completely  as  possible  two  distinct  sources 
of  information  were  used : 

1 .  Wage  returns  from  trade  and  labor  unions. 

2.  The  direct  study  of  payrolls.  This  second  source,  which  was 
by  far  the  more  complete,  had  the  actual  pay  records  of  the  employer 
as  working  material.  Not  only  so-called  wage-earners,  but  salaried 
men  as  well  were  considered. 

The  results  of  these  two  divisions  of  the  work  are  given  in  detail. 

I  Trade  and  Labor  Unions 

To  acquire  the  wage  data  from  unions,  special  forms  were  sent 
to  every  labor  organization  in  the  city.     This  form  requested  wage 


246  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

rates  both  at  the  beginning  and  at  the  close  of  the  period  (January 
1,  1916  to  March  10,  1917),  also  the  length  and  exact  period  of  wage 
contracts  under  which  members  were  working. 

Data  covering  11,542  union  workers  were  received,  but  of  these 
only  7,518  were  rehable  and  in  such  a  shape  as  to  be  of  value  as  a 
basis  for  conclusions. 

The  unions  adequately  reporting,  with  the  number  of  active 
members  in  each  were: 

Members 
Name  of  Union  Reporting 

Boilermakers'  Union  #19 106 

Moving  Picture  Operatives 134 

Association  of  Plumbers  and  Steamfitters 960 

Brewery  Engineers 151 

Bookbinders'  Local  #2 297 

Pavers'  Local  #48 148 

Brewers'  Union  #5 605 

Upholsterers'  and  Weavers'  Union  #25 530 

Plasterers'  Union 82 

Cement  Finishers' .^ 54 

Lace  Operatives'  Union 365 

Drivers'  Union  #491 128 

Cigar  Makers,  Male 240 

Cigar  Makers,  Female 212 

Bartenders'  International 1,485 

Coopers'  Union  #108 178 

United  Hatters 605 

International  Union  of  S.  and  O.  Engineers 250 

Upholsterers'  Union 285 

Weavers'  Union 403 

Electrical  Workers'  Local  #20 300 

Total.  . 7,518 

During  the  sixty-two  weeks  covered,  the  following  wage  changes 
took  place: 

Of  the  7,518  workers,  4,569,  or  approximately  three-fifths 
received  no  increase  in  wages;  615,  or  about  8  per  cent  received 
increases  amounting  from  1  per  cent  to  10  per  cent  of  their  wages; 
824,  or  close  to  11  per  cent  received  increases  of  10  per  cent  to  20 
per  cent  of  their  income,  while  1,510,  or  approximately  20  per  cent 
had  increases  in  wages  of  more  than  20  per  cent  during  the  period. 
Charted;  these  figures  may  take  clearer  form. 


Food  Prices  vs.  Wage  Increases 


247 


The  reason  why  so  large  a  number  of  union  workers  received 
no  increases,  is  largely  because  of  prevailing  long-term  contracts 
with  their  employers.  Especially  was  this  true  of  the  bookbinders', 
brewery  engineers',  upholsterers',  weavers'  and  many  other  unions. 
Members  of  labor  organizations  working  under  these  contractual 


1  -^S^O  ^er7 
1  /S7o  '?77<e^?. 

-^'^ 

^IL 

CHART  VI 


relations  are  not  unlike  the  salaried  men  investigated,  their  slow 
changing  incomes  bearing  no  relation  or  adjustment  to  the  quickly 
changing  food  prices.  As  one  labor  leader  put  it,  ''food  prices 
are  going  up  the  elevator,  while  our  wages  have  taken  the  stairs." 

The  actual  amount  of  wages  these  workers  were  receiving  on 
March  10,  1917  was: 


248 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


Wages  of  7,338  Union  Workers  in  Philadelphia  March  10,  1917 

Wage  Groups  Number  Percentage 

Less  than  $15  per  week 2,877  38 

$15  to  $20  per  week 3,680  49 

Over  $20  per  week 781  10 

Incomplete  180.  03 

Total 7,518  100 

Put  into  graphic  chart  these  figures  appear : 


34  so 

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kfAT.              (y^c/.j          J^O. 

CHART  VII 


The  following  important  conditions  were  found  to  prevail  as 
general,  or  perhaps  chronic,  among  the  members  of  the  unions 
investigated : 

1.  Everywhere  unions  were  emphatic  in  calling  our  attention 
to  the  lack  of  any  adjustment  of  long-time  wage  rates  and  short- 
time  commodity  prices.  Even  in  those  unions  where  rates  had  been 
increased  within  a  period  of  two  months,  there  was  dissatisfaction 


Food  Prices  vs.  Wage  Increases  249 

expressed.     In  the  cases  of  long-term  contracts,  however,  the  great- 
est evil  of  this  maladjustment  was  manifest. 

2.  As  was  to  be  expected  the  claim  was  paramount  that  wages 
were  not  high  enough  to  meet  those  necessary  costs  needed  for  a 
fair  standard  of  living.  By  applying  the  standard  income  for  an 
individual  and  then  closely  examining  the  above  income  chart,  one 
can  judge  the  truth  of  the  contentions  of  these  workers  regarding 
low  wages. 

3.  In  a  few  unions  covering  over  600  workers,  successful  strikes 
were  an  admitted  failure.  This  economic  paradox  is  quickly  under- 
stood upon  citing  the  most  pronounced  case — that  of  the  Clothing 
Makers  Union.  The  union  had  returned  to  work  after  a  four  weeks' 
successful  strike  in  which  a  one  dollar  per  week  increase  was  realized. 
During  this  four  weeks'  interim  food  prices  for  an  average  family 
had  gone  up  approximately  $1.75  per  week.  In  short,  the  strike 
although  increasing  the  money  income,  resulted  in  the  falling  of  the 
real  wages. 

II     Actual  Payroll  Studies 

More  important  than  these  figures,  however,  are  those  obtained 
from  an  actual  study  of  payrolls.  In  order  that  this  study  might  be 
as  accurate  as  possible  proportional  representation  was  used.  That 
is  the  plants  investigated  and  the  individual  wage  cards  obtained 
were  selected  in  proportion  to  the  importance  of  the  different  indus- 
tries and  the  different  trades  within  the  industry  in  the  city's  enter- 
prises. For  instance,  almost  one-fourth  of  the  city's  workers  are 
in  the  textile  industries,  consequently  one-fourth  of  the  wage  cards 
should  come  from  textile  mills.  Similarly,  within  the  textile  in- 
dustries are  several  different  trades,  and  the  cards  from  individual 
workers  should  be  proportioned  to  the  number  of  men  employed 
in  each  occupation.  By  following  this  method  the  wage  cards 
taken  from  the  records  were  made  fairly  representative  of  the  trend 
in  wages  throughout  the  city. 

In  all,  1,600  wage  studies  were  made,  covering  by  proportional 
representation  about  44,200  workers.  The  average  weekly  incomes 
of  these  44,200  represented  workers  for  the  sixty-two  weeks  covered 
by  the  investigation  are  as  follows: 


250 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


Average  Weekly  Incomes  of  44,200  Wage-Earners  in  Philadelphia 


January  1,  1916  to  March  10,  1917 

Date  Amount  Date 

1916 

January        8 $9 . 

15 11. 

22 11. 

29 11 

February      5 10 

12 11 

19 11. 

26 11. 

March  4 11. 

11 11. 

18 11. 

25 11. 

April  1 11. 

8 10. 

15, 11. 

22 12. 

29 11. 

May  6 11. 

13 12. 

20 11. 

27 12. 

June  3 11. 

10 11. 

16 11. 

23 11. 

30 10. 

July  7 10. 

14 12. 

21 11. 

28 11. 

August  4 11. 

12 11. 


Amount 


22 

August 

19 

$11.58 

64 

26 

11.43 

66 

Septembei 

•    2 

11.64 

05 

9 

10.94 

78 

16 

10.67 

93 

22 

11.13 

68 

30 

12.53 

88 

October 

7 

11.89 

36 

14 

12.30 

68 

21 

12.29 

83 

28 

11.93 

68 

November 

4 

12.40 

26 

11 

11.87 

54 

18 

13.76 

81 

25 

13.78 

03 

December 

2 

11.85 

45 

9 

13.66 

78 

16 

11.57 

21 

23 

12.35 

98 

30 

12.73 

07 

1917 

01 

January 

6 

11.52 

19 

13 

12.01 

21 

20 

12.93 

03 

27 

13.84 

78 

February 

3 

14.13 

28 

10 

12.12 

19 

17 

13.66 

46 

24 

14.12 

98 

March 

2 

13.35 

58 

10 

13.40 

16 

The  increase  in  wages  for  the  last  month  of  the  investigation 
over  the  first  month  is  22.8  per  cent. 

The  weekly  fluctuations  can  be  well  seen  in  the  chart. 

These  wage  statistics  afford  a  basis  for  comparison  with  the 
food  price  figures  given  in  the  preceding  article.  Taking  the  aver- 
age wages  for  the  year  1916  as  100,  relative  wages  by  months  can 
be  computed  comparable  with  the  relative  food  prices  there  quoted. 
These  relative  wages  are  shown  in  graphic  form  side  by  side  with 


Food  Prices  vs.  Wage  Increases 


251 


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252  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

the  movement  of  relative  food  prices  in  Chart  I,  page  238.     The 
significance  of  these  two  curves  will  be  discussed  in  the  conclusion. 

Ill    Salaried  Men 

As  was  stated  under  the  study  of  union  wages,  union  men  and 
salaried  men  have  felt  the  pressure  of  the  rise  in  prices  more  than 
other  workers,  due  to  the  fact  that  their  incomes  have  had  prac- 
tically no  change  over  the  period  investigated. 

The  committee  had  the  records  of  112  male  employes,  repre- 
senting on  a  proportional  basis  3,050  workers  working  on  a  salary 
basis.  These  three  thousand  men  are  employed  as  superintendents, 
assistant  superintendents,  shop  foremen,  timekeepers,  bookkeepers 
and  office  clerks.  Seventy-six  per  cent  of  these  salaried  men  re- 
ceived no  increase  whatever  from  January  1,  1916  to  March  10, 
1917,  while  the  remaining  24  per  cent  received  increases  ranging 
from  5  per  cent  to  25  per  cent.  The  average  weekly  income  for 
this  complete  salaried  group  on  January  1,  1916  was  $22.75.  Sixty- 
two  weeks  later,  March  10,  1917,  the  average  income  was  $23.20 
per  week,  an  increase  of  2  per  cent  during  the  period.  During  the 
same  period  the  increase  in  food  prices  was  26.6  per  cent!  This 
tendency  is  driving  salaried  men  into  the  shops.  In  many  firms 
it  was  reported  that  salaried  men  were  discarding  white  collars  and 
were  donning  overalls,  and  much  to  their  financial  advantage. 

IV    The  Irregularity  of  Wages 

In  several  of  the  industries  a  characteristic  condition  was  the 
irregularity  of  the  incomes  paid.  When  both  future  wages  and 
future  prices  can  in  no  way  be  discounted,  the  worker  of  necessity 
is  thrown  into  a  serious  dilemma.  Not  knowing  the  future  and 
Uving  from  hand  to  mouth,  any  change  in  income,  be  it  up  or  down, 
plays  havoc.  He  simply  trusts  to  luck.  Even  the  shadow  of  a 
budget  is  missing. 

Two  of  the  larger  firms  were  taken  in  order  to  portray  this 
unevenness  in  wages,  lack  of  time  and  investigators  making  a  com- 
plete study  impossible.  The  cigar  and  textile  industries  alone 
were  considered. 

The  following  table  and  chart  give  the  average  weekly  wages 
prevailing  by  the  month  of  324  cigar  hands,  both  male  and  female, 
for  1916.  The  fluctuation  of  prices  is  also  charted  so  that  the 
discrepancy  between  wages  and  prices  may  be  seen. 


Food  Prices  vs.  Wage  Increases 


253 


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254  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

Average  Weekly  Wage  by  Months,  1916 

January SIO .  07 

February 11 .  19 

March • 11 .  32 

April 10.49 

May 11.04 

June 11.21 

July 9.65 

August 10.61 

September 11 .  73 

October 10.65 

November 1 1 .  24 

December 10.68 

In  the  textile  industry  covering  1,650  workers  the  weekly  in- 
come over  fourteen  months  fluctuates  between  $10.87  and  $15.36 

per  week.     The   following   are   the   average  weekl}^  incomes   by 
months : 

Average  Weekly  Incomes  by  Months,  1916 

January $10 .  87 

February 11 .  55 

March , 11.50 

AprU 11.14 

•     May 11.35 

Jtme 11.50 

July 12.18 

August 11.04 

September 11 .41 

October 11.99 

November 12 .  55 

December 13 .  13 

1917 

January 13.21 

February 13 .  44 

March  fTwo  wee^s  onlyj 15 .  36 

As  the  above  tables  are  averaged  rates,  they  balance  up  and 
remove  extreme  cases.  One  textile  worker  through  personal  con- 
tact showed  his  wages  and  food  budget.  His  income  ranged  from 
$7.34  to  $21.50  per  week  while  his  food  costs  for  a -family  of  four 
ranged  between  $7.80  and  $11.10  per  week. 

CONCLUSIONS 
Raymond  T.  Bye,  A.  M.,  and  Charles  Reitell,  Ph.D. 

It  is  customary  for  social  workers  to  contend  that  wages  do  not 
rise  as  rapidly  as  food  prices,  and  that  therefore  real  wages  are  fall- 


Food  Prices  vs.  Wage  Increases  255 

ing.  The  figures  of  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics 
for  the  country  as  a  whole,  indeed,  confirm  this  behef,  showing  that 
prices  have  been  rising  much  more  rapidly  than  wages  for  several 
decades.  It  was  expected  that  this  study  of  wages  and  food  prices 
in  Philadelphia  would  reveal  a  similar  tendency.  It  is  rather  sur- 
prising, therefore,  that  at  first  sight  a  comparison  of  the  two  sets  of 
figures  shows  a  remarkably  close  correspondence  between  price  and 
wage  changes.  A  reference  to  Chart  I,  page  238,  where  the  monthly- 
relative  food  prices  and  wages  are  shown,  indicated  that  during  the 
period  from  January  1,  1916  to  March  15,  1917  wages  followed  the 
increase  in  food  prices  with  considerable  regularity.  During  these 
fifteen  months  food  prices  increased  26.6  per  cent  while  wages  rose 
23.6  per  cent,  a  difference  of  only  3  per  cent. 

Is  it  then  to  be  concluded  that  real  wages  are  not  changing  at 
all?  The  statistics  hardly  warrant  such  a  statement.  Unfortu- 
nately the  period  covered  by  the  Food  Committee's  study  is  too  short 
to  be  of  any  real  significance  as  to  the  movement  of  real  wages  in 
general.  Moreover,  food  is  not  the  only  item  although  it  is  a  very 
important  one  in  the  family  budget.  An  adequate  measurement 
of  real  wages  would  have  to  take  into  consideration  the  prices  of 
clothing,  lodging,  fuel  and  many  other  things.  It  is  hardly  likely, 
however,  that  these  prices  have  increased  any  faster  or  even  as  fast 
as  food  prices. 

A  reference  again  to  the  chart  will  show  that  the  difference  be- 
tween the  increase  in  wages  and  that  of  food  prices  is  really  greater 
than  the  figures  just  quoted  would  make  it  appear.  A  sharp  rise 
in  wages  from  January  to  February,  1916,  and  a  shght  drop  in  food 
prices  from  February  to  March,  1917,  is  deceptive.  If  the  January 
and  March  figures  be  eliminated  and  the  increase  of  prices  for  the 
year  from  February,  1916  to  February,  1917  be  compared  with 
wages  for  the  same  period  it  will  be  seen  that  prices  rose  31.1  per 
cent  while  wages  increased  only  16.0  per  cent.  If  the  wage  figures, 
moreover,  were  continued  to  August,  which  unfortunately  it  was 
impossible  to  do,  it  is  hardly  Hkely  that  they  would  be  shown  to 
have  kept  pace  with  the  extraordinary  price  increases  of  April  and 
May.  It  is  probable,  therefore,  that  over  a  long  period  the  Phila- 
delphia statistics  would  bear  out  the  general  impression  that  real 
wages  are  falling.  What  is  interesting  to  note  about  this  study, 
however,  is  that  for  a  considerable  group  of  wage-earners  the  phe- 


256  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

nomenal  rise  in  food  prices  from  January,  1916  to  March,  1917  has 
not  entailed  as  great  a  hardship  as  might  at  first  be  supposed.  Dr. 
Reitell's  investigation  showed  this  to  be  particularly  true  of  the  iron 
and  steel  and  other  "war"  industries.  On  the  other  hand,  as  has 
been  pointed  out,  for  the  salaried  employes  and  trade  unionists 
working  on  wage  contracts  it  has  meant  a  considerable  hardship. 
On  the  whole  it  seems  probable  that  wages  are  increasing  less 
rapidly  than  food  prices,  and  that  in  consequence  standards  of 
living  in  the  long  run  are  slowly  falling. 


CONSTITUTIONALITY   OF   FEDERAL   REGULATION    OF 
PRICES   ON   FOOD   AND   FUELS 

By  Clifford  Thorne, 
Lawyer,  Chicago. 

A  question  has  been  raised  in  the  minds  of  some  eminent 
gentlemen  who  are  in  entire  accord  with  the  policy  of  regulating 
prices  on  food  and  fuels  concerning  the  constitutional  power  of 
the  federal  government  to  regulate  prices  on  commodities  or  serv- 
ices, other  than  those  which  are  strictly  public  in  character,  like 
a  railroad  which  has  received  certain  privileges  from  the  public  in 
return  for  which  it  is  subject  to  public  regulation. 

The  Issues 

Two  issues  are  involved:  (1)  the  extent  of  jurisdiction  by  the 
federal  government  as  distinguished  from  the  several  states  over 
the  subjects  in  question;  and  (2)  does  the  police  power  of  either  a 
state  or  of  the  federal  government  include  the  authority  to  fix 
prices  on  such  articles  as  food  and  fuels  at  a  time  like  the  present. 

Our  position  is  that  Congress  has  the  constitutional  authority 
to  establish  or  to  authorize  some  tribunal  to  establish  reasonable 
maximum  prices  on  food  and  fuels  during  the  period  of  the  war.  In 
support  of  this  position  we  will  briefly  outline  the  fundamental 
principles  of  law  which  are  involved.  During  the  discussion  of  the 
cases  we  should  bear  in  mind  constantly: 

A.  The  vital  connection  between  the  production  and  equitable 
distribution,  at  reasonable  prices,  of  food  and  fuels,  with  the  whole 


Fedekal  Regulation  of  Prices  on  Food  and  Fuels   257 

defense  program  of  the  federal  government,  (1)  in  the  manufacture 
and  transportation  of  war  munitions,  and  (2)  in  the  efficient  sus- 
tenance of  the  nation  during  the  world  war,  wherein  the  other 
principal  combatants  have  found  it  necessary  to  take  over  many  of 
their  industries,  or  to  control  the  prices  on  these  basic  commodities 
during  practically  every  stage  of  their  participation  in  the  conflict. 

B.  The  monopolistic  character  of  these  enterprises  at  the  present 
time. 

C.  The  effect  of  no  regulation  and  control  upon  the  general 
welfare  of  the  public — directly,  through  their  own  purchases;  and 
indirectly,  but  nevertheless  more  powerfully,  in  the  advancing 
charges  of  railroads  and  public  utilities  of  all  kinds.  ' 

Outline  of  Legal  Propositions 

The  legal  propositions  which  we  hope  to  sustain  may  be  sum- 
marized as  follows : 

1.  In  the  interpretation  of  the  Constitution  the  trend  of  the 
court  decisions  has  been  to  limit  the  police  power  of  the  Congress  to 
those  subjects  over  which  the  federal  government  is  given  jurisdic- 
tion or  control;  all  not  so  specifically  granted  being  reserved  to  the 
several  states. 

2.  The  exercise  of  the  police  power  to  provide  for  the  common 
defense  carries  with  it  all  that  which  is  necessary  for  the  safety  and 
welfare  of  the  people  during  the  period  of  the  war,  many  things 
being  permissible  in  a  time  of  war  which  are  prohibited  in  a  time  of 
peace.     The  safety  of  the  state  is  of  supreme  importance. 

3.  The  exercise  of  the  police  power  over  commerce,  by  either  the 
state  or  federal  governments,  on  subjects  properly  within  their 
respective  jurisdictions,  has  been  sustained  as  to  various  matters, 
including: 

The  prevention  of  interference  with  the  freedom  of  commerce 
by  combinations  in  restraint  of  trade. 

The  prevention  of  nuisances. 

The  prevention  of  unreasonable  charges,  either  excessive  or 
discriminatory  in  character. 


In  the  interpretation  of  the  Constitution,  the  trend  of  the  court  de- 
cisions has  been  to  limit  the  police  power  of  Congress  to  those  subjects 
over  which  the  federal  government  is  given  jurisdiction  or  control;  all 
those  not  specifically  granted  being  reserved  to  the  several  states. 

The  above  proposition  is  not  subject  to  argument.  There  can 
be  no  question  on  the  proposition  that  the  Constitution  grants  to 


258  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

the  federal  government  the  power  to:  (a)  provide  for  the  common 
defense;  and  (b)  regulate  interstate  commerce. 

A  question  of  some  difficulty  frequently  arises  when  we  at- 
tempt to  draw  the  line  between  state  and  interstate  commerce. 
In  the  case  entitled  United  States  v.  E.  C.  Knight  Co.,  156  U.  S.,  1, 
the  court  held  that  the  manufacture  of  sugar  within  the  bounds 
of  a  given  state  did  not  constitute  a  restriction  upon  interstate  com- 
merce and  thereby  subject  to  the  federal  anti-trust  act.  The  court 
went  so  far  as  to  state : 

Contracts,  combinations,  or  conspiracies  to  control  domestic  enterprise  in 
manufacture,  agriculture,  mining,  production  in  all  its  forms,  or  to  raise  or  lower 
prices  or  wages,  might  unquestionably  tend  to  restrain  external  as  well  as  domestic 
trade,  but  the  restraint  would  be  an  indirect  result,  however  inevitable  and  what- 
ever its  extent,  and  such  result  would  not  necessarily  determine  the  object  of 
the  contract,  combination,  or  conspiracy.' 

The  foregoing  dictum  in  so  far  as  it  referred  to  a  combination 
to  raise  or  lower  prices  not  being  subject  to  the  federal  act  was 
reversed  in  the  later  case  of  Addyston  Pipe  and  Steel  Co.  v.  U.  S., 
175  U.  S.,  211. 

The  distinction  between  the  manufacture  and  a  contract  to  sell, 
was  clearly  made  by  the  court  in  the  Knight  Case,  and  that  distinc- 
tion has  been  followed  in  subsequent  decisions.  While  holding  that 
the  federal  act  did  not  apply  to  the  police  regulation  of  a  manufacture 
within  a  state,  the  court  held,  however,  that: 

It  will  be  perceived  how  far-reaching  the  proposition  is  that  the  power  of 
dealing  with  a  monopoly  directly  may  be  exercised  by  the  general  government 
whenever  interstate  or  international  commerce  may  be  ultimately  affected.  The 
regulation  of  commerce  applies  to  the  subjects  of  commerce  and  not  to  matters 
of  internal  pohce.  Contracts  to  buy,  sell,  or  exchange  goods  to  be  transported 
among  the  several  states,  the  transportation  and  its  instrumentalities,  and  articles 
bought,  sold,  or  exchanged  for  the  purposes  of  such  transit  among  the  states,  or 
put  in  the  way  of  transit,  may  be  regulated,  but  this  is  because  they  form  part  of 
interstate  trade  or  commerce.^ 

In  the  Addyston  Pipe  and  Steel  Company  Case,  175  U.  S.,  21 1> 
the  principle  in  the  Knight  Case  was  restated  in  the  following  lan- 
guage: 

The  case  was  decided  upon  the  principle  that  a  combination  simply  to  control 
manufacture  was  not  a  violation  of  the  act  of  Congress  because  such  a  contract  or 

1  United  States  v.  E.  C.  Knight  Co.,  156  U.  S.,  16. 
« Ibid.,  p.  13. 


Federal  Regulation  of  Prices  on  Food  and  Fuels   259 

combination  did  not  directly  control  or  affect  interstate  commerce,  but  that  con- 
tracts for  the  sale  and  transportation  to  other  states  of  specific  articles  were  proper 
subjects  for  regulation  because  they  did  form  a  part  of  such  commerce.* 

A  commodity  need  not  have  commenced  its  journey  beyond 
the  bounds  of  a  state,  and  yet  it  may  still  have  been  sold  for  delivery 
in  another  state.  A  combination  among  dealers  may  be  subject  to 
federal  regulation.  In  the  language  of  the  court  in  the  Addyston 
Case: 

Decisions  regarding  the  validity  of  taxation  by  or  under  state  authority, 
involving  sometimes  the  question  of  the  point  of  time  that  an  article  intended  for 
transportation  beyond  the  state  ceases  to  be  governed  exclusively  by  the  domestic 
law  and  begins  to  be  governed  and  protected  by  the  national  law  of  commercial 
regulation,  are  not  of  very  close  application  here.  The  commodity  may  not  have 
commenced  its  journey  and  so  may  still  be  completely  within  the  jurisdiction  of 
the  state  for  purposes  of  state  taxation,  and  yet  at  the  same  time  the  commodity 
may  have  been  sold  for  delivery  in  another  state.  Any  combination  among  dealers 
in  that  kind  of  commodity,  which  in  its  direct  and  immediate  effect,  forecloses  all 
competition  and  enhances  the  purchase  price  for  which  such  commodity  would 
otherwise  be  delivered  at  its  destination  in  another  state,  would  in  our  opinion 
be  one  in  restraint  of  trade  or  commerce  among  the  states,  even  though  the  article 
to  be  transported  and  delivered  in  another  state  were  still  taxable  at  its  place  of 
manufacture.^ 

The  same  principle  that  was  enunciated  in  the  Addyston  Case 
was  recognized  in  Swift  &  Co.  v.  U.  S.,  196  U.  S.,  375.  In  this  case 
the  rule  applicable  to  the  particular  combination  in  restraint  of 
trade  was  distinguished  from  that  described  in  the  Knight  Case, 
supra.  The  combination  for  the  control  of  the  purchase  and  sale 
of  cattle  was  held  to  be  in  violation  of  the  federal  act. 

The  injunction,  however,  refers  not  to  trade  among  the  states  in  cattle,  con- 
cerning which  there  can  be  no  question  of  original  package,  but  to  trade  in  fresh 
meats,  as  the  trade  forbidden  to  be  restrained,  and  it  is  objected  that  the  trade 
in  fresh  meats  described  in  the  second  and  third  sections  of  the  bill  is  not  com- 
merce among  the  states,  because  the  meat  is  sold  at  the  slaughtering  places,  or 
when  sold  elsewhere  may  be  sold  in  less  than  the  original  packages.  But  the 
allegations  of  the  second  section,  even  if  they  import  a  technical  passing  of  title 
at  the  slaughtering  places,  also  import  that  the  sales  are  to  persons  in  other  states, 
and  that  the  shipments  to  other  states  are  part  of  the  transaction — "pursuant  to 
such  sales" — and  the  third  section  imports  that  the  same  things  which  are  sent 
to  agents  are  sold  by  them,  and  sufficiently  indicates  that  some  at  least  of  the 
sales  are  of  the  original  packages.    Moreover,  the  sales  are  by  persons  in  one  state 

^Addyston  Pipe  and  Steel  Co.  v.  U.  S.,  175  U.  S.,  240. 
*  Ibid.,  245,  246. 


260  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

to  persons  in  another.  But  we  do  not  mean  to  imply  that  the  rule  which  marks 
the  point  at  which  the  state  taxation  or  regulation  becomes  permissable  necessa- 
rily is  beyond  the  scope  of  interference  by  Congress  in  cases  where  such  inter- 
ference is  deemed  necessary  for  the  protection  of  commerce  among  the  states. 
Nor  do  we  mean  to  intimate  that  the  statute  under  consideration  is  limited  to 
that  point." 

In  harmony  with  these  principles  is  the  act  relative  to  the 
inspection  by  federal  authorities  of  livestock  at  the  various  markets.^ 

II 

The  exercise  of  the  police  power  to  provide  for  the  common  defense 
carries  with  it  all  that  which  is  necessary  for  the  safety  and  welfare  of 
the  people  during  the  period  of  the  war;  many  things  being  permissable 
in  a  time  of  war  which  are  prohibited  in  times  of  peace.  The  safety 
of  the  state  is  of  supreme  importance. 

This  principle  was  splendidly  stated  in  one  of  the  Federalist 
letters,  as  follows: 

As  the  duties  of  superintending  the  national  defense  and  of  securing  the 
public  peace  against  force  or  domestic  violence  involves  a  provision  for  casualties 
and  dangers  to  which  no  possible  limits  can  be  assigned,  the  power  of  making  that 
provision  ought  to  know  no  other  bounds  than  the  exigencies  of  the  nation  and 
the  resources  of  the  community.'' 

In  a  very  old  and  celebrated  decision  by  the  Supreme  Court  of 
Pennsylvania  in  1788,  the  clear  distinction  is  made  as  to  the  neces- 
sarily wide  power  of  Congress  or  of  the  federal  government,  during 
a  state  of  war. 

The  case  was  this:  Congress,  perceiving  that  it  was  the  intention  of  the 
British  army  to  possess  themselves  of  Philadelphia,  and  being  informed  that 
considerable  deposits  of  provisions,  etc.,  were  made  in  that  city,  entered  into  a 
resolution  on  the  eleventh  of  April,  1777,  that  a  committee  should  be  appointed 
to  examine  into  the  truth  of  their  information;  and  if  it  was  found  true,  to  take 
effectual  measures,  in  conjunction  with  the  Pennsylvania  Board  of  War,  to  pre- 
vent such  provisions  from  falling  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy 

On  this  state  of  facts  the  court  held: 

On  the  circumstances  of  this  case,  two  points  arise; 

1st.  Whether  the  appellant  ought  to  receive  any  compensation,  or  not?  and 

2nd.  Whether  this  court  can  grant  the  relief  which  is  claimed? 

» Swift  &  Co.  v.  U.  S.,  196  U.  S.,  375,  399. 

« I  Supp.  Rev.  Stat.,  p.  938,  as  amended  in  II  Supp.  Rev.  Stat.,  p.  404. 

''  The  Federalist,  Letter  31. 


Federal  Regulation  of  Prices  on  Food  and  Fuels   261 

Upon  the  first  point  we  are  to  be  governed  by  reason,  by  the  law  of  nations, 
and  by  precedents  analogous  to  the  subject  before  us.  The  transaction,  it  must 
be  remembered,  happened  flagrante  hello;  and.  many  things  are  lawful  in  that 
season,  which  would  not  be  permitted  in  a  time  of  peace.  The  seizure  of  the 
property  in  question,  can,  indeed,  only  be  justified  under  this  distinction;  for, 
otherwise,  it  would  clearly  have  been  a  trespass;  which,  from  the  very  nature  of 
the  term,  transgressio,  imports  to  go  beyond  what  is  right.*  It  is  a  rule,  however, 
that  it  is  better  to  suffer  a  private  mischief,  than  a  public  inconvenience;  and  the 
rights  of  necessity,  form  a  part  of  our  law 

Houses  may  be  razed  to  prevent  the  spreading  of  fire,  because  for  the  pubUc 
good.'  We  find,  indeed,  a  memorable  instance  of  folly  recorded  in  the  3rd  volume 
of  Clarendon's  History,  where  it  is  mentioned  that  the  Lord  Mayor  of  London, 
in  1666,  when  that  city  was  on  fire,  would  not  give  directions  for,  or  consent  to, 
the  pulling  down  of  forty  wooden  houses,  or  to  the  removing  of  the  furniture,  etc., 
belonging  to  the  lawyers  of  the  temple,  then  on  the  circuit,  for  the  fear  he  should 
be  answerable  for  trespass;  and  in  consequence  of  this  conduct  half  that  great 
city  was  burnt. 

We  are  clearly  of  opinion,  that  Congress  might  lawfully  direct  the  removal  of 
any  articles  that  were  necessary  to  the  maintenance  of  the  Continental  army,  or 
useful  to  the  enemy,  and  in  danger  of  falling  into  their  hands ;  for  they  were  vested 
with  the  powers  of  peace  and  war,  to  which  this  was  a  natural  and  necessary 
incident.  And,  having  done  it  lawfully,  there  is  nothing  in  the  circumstances  of 
the  case,  which,  we  think,  entitles  the  appellant  to  a  compensation  for  the  conse- 
quent loss." 

Ill 

The  exercise  of  the  police  power  over  commerce,  hy  either  the  state 
or  federal  governments  {on  subjects  properly  within  their  respective 
jurisdictions),  has  been  sustained  as  to  various  matters,  including: 

(1)  The  prevention  of  interference  with  the  freedom  of  commerce 
hy  combinations  in  restraint  of  trade; 

(2)  The  prevention  of  nuisances;  and 

(3)  The  prevention  of  unreasonable  charges,  either  excessive  or 
discriminatory  in  character, 

(a)  By  companies  engaged  in  a  public  service;  and 

(b)  By  companies  engaged  in  a  business  in  which  the  public  has 
an  interest,  even  though  that  business  is  not  strictly  public  in  character. 

Scores  of  precedents  could  be  cited  in  support  of  the  foregoing 
propositions,  but  we  are  only  concerned  in  the  last  one  stated,  and 
it  is  this  issue  about  which  the  present  controversy  hinges. 

8  5  Bac.  Abr.,  150. 

« Dyer,  36.  Rud.  L.  and  E.,  312.  See  Puff,  Lib.  2,  c.  6,  Fee.  8.  Hutch. 
Mor.  Philos.  Lib.  2,  c.  16. 

"  Respublica  v.  Sparhawk,  1  Dallas,  357,  362,  363. 


262  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

The  "police  power"  of  a  government  is  very  extensive  and 
cannot  be  defined  definitely  at  any  particular  time ;  it  is  that  power 
of  the  government  to  do  that  which  is  necessary  for  the  general 
welfare  of  the  people.  This  power  has  been  interpreted  as  including 
regulations  for  the  health,  morals  and  safety  of  the  public,  to  pre- 
vent excessive  and  discriminatory  charges,  to  prevent  combinations 
in  restraint  of  trade,  to  provide  for  the  common  defense,  and  for 
such  other  things  as  may  arise  from  time  to  time  as  may  be  deemed 
for  the  general  welfare  of  society.  This  police  power  of  providing 
for  "the  general  welfare"  was  specifically  granted  to  Congress  by 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  Mr.  Justice  Miller  in  the 
Slaughter  House  Cases,  16  Wall.,  36,  62,  described  the  police  power 
in  the  following  language: 

This  power  is,  and  must  be,  from  its  very  nature,  incapable  of  any  very  exact 
definition  or  limitation.  Upon  it  depends  the  security  of  social  order,  the  life  and 
health  of  the  citizen,  the  comfort  of  an  existence  in  a  thickly  populated  commu- 
nity, the  enjoyment  of  private  and  social  life,  and  the  beneficial  use  of  property. ^^ 

The  language  of  the  Constitution  in  both  the  Preamble  and  in 
Section  8  of  Article  I,  very  clearly  grants  this  broad  power  of  caring 
for  the  "general  welfare"  to  the  federal  government. 

Many  have  specifically  declared  recent  acts  of  Congress  to  be 
unconstitutional,  holding  that  such  would  be  the  ruhng  of  any 
court  in  a  case  properly  presented  were  it  not  for  the  possible  effect 
of  the  strenuous  war  period  at  the  present  date.  Others  tremble 
for  future  developments  along  these  same  lines.  It  is  our  belief 
that  the  power  of  Congress  to  provide  for  the  establishment  of 
reasonable  maximum  charges  on  food  and  fuels  has  been  clearly 
recognized  by  the  courts  in  well  considered  opinions  of  former  days, 
and  there  can  be  no  question  about  the  power  of  Congress  to  act 
in  the  present  emergency. 

Mr.  Ernst  Freund,  of  the  University  of  Chicago,  in  his  work 
on  The  Police  Power,^^  has  quite  accurately  summarized  the  law 
relative  to  the  power  of  a  government  to  regulate  prices  under  its 
exercise  of  the  police  power,  in  the  following  language: 

The  justification  for  regulating  charges  in  some  particular  business  would 
usually  be  that  it  constitutes  a  dejure  or  de  facto  monopoly  or  enjoys  special  privi- 
leges; but  it  may  also  be  that  the  commodity  selected  is  a  necessary  of  life,  or  that 

"  Justice  Miller  in  the  Slaughter  House  Cases,  16  Wall.,  36,  62. 
"  See  page  389. 


Federal  Regulation  of  Prices  on  Food  and  Fuels  263 

it  is  essential  to  the  industrial  welfare  of  the  community,  or  that  it  has  been  imme- 
morially  the  subject  of  regulation." 

The  context  surrounding  this  statement  by  Mr.  Freund  should 
be  considered: 

A  possible  solution  of  the  difficulty  may  be  found  in  the  application  of  the 
principle  of  equality.  Conceding  that  it  is  within  the  general  scope  of  the  police 
power  to  prevent  unreasonable  charges  as  constituting  a  form  of  economic  oppres- 
sion and,  as  a  means  of  prevention,  to  fix  rates,  yet  it  is  clear  that  a  systematic 
regulation  of  charges  of  all  commodities  and  services  is  not  within  the  range  of 
practical  legislative  policy.  All  such  legislation  will  necessarily  apply  to  particular 
classes  of  business.  Under  the  principle  of  equality  the  classes  so  singled  out 
should  have  some  special  relation  to  the  possibiUty  of  oppression.  The  justifica- 
tion for  regulating  charges  in  some  particular  business  would  usually  be  that  it 
constitutes  a  de  jure  or  de  facto  monopoly  or  enjoys  special  privileges;  but  it  may 
also  be  that  the  commodity  selected  is  a  necessary  of  life,  or  that  it  is  essential  to 
the  industrial  welfare  of  the  community,  or  that  it  has  been  immemorially  the 
subject  of  regulation.  Upon  this  theory  it  is  possible  to  account  for  existing 
legislation  without  conceding  legislative  power  with  regard  to  any  and  all  com- 
modities, which  it  may  choose  to  select,  and  on  the  other  hand,  to  allow  for  new 
applications  of  this  power,  while  subjecting  them  to  an  efficient  judicial  control 
which  will  imdoubtedly  be  claimed  and  exercised.  There  will  thus  be  an  adequate 
safeguard  against  arbitrary  class  legislation  in  the  matter  of  regulation  of  charges. 
All  legislation  in  this  matter  will,  moreover,  be  subject  to  the  principle  of  reason- 
ableness of  the  rate  fixed, — a  principle  which  has  become  established  in  a  series 
of  important  decisions." 

Illustrating  the  tendency  of  these  rules  in  regard  to  the  regula- 
tion of  prices,  Mr.  Freund  states  the  following: 

It  has  been  shown  that  the  opinions  delivered  in  the  earlier  grain  elevator  cases 
strongly  rehed  upon  the  monopolistic  character  of  the  business.  The  monopoly 
in  these  cases  was  not  a  legal  one,  but  it  was  held  to  exist  virtually  and  de  facto. 
The  argument  of  special  privileges  does  not  avail  in  such  a  case  to  justify  the 
regulation  of  charges;  but  since  the  common  regulating  factor,  competition,  is 
absent,  a  condition  is  presented  which  calls  for  the  exercise  of  the  police  power  for 
the  prevention  of  oppression.  The  police  power  is  exercised  for  the  prevention 
of  monopoUes,  where  they  rest  upon  the  preventable  machinations;  it  follows  that 
where  a  monopoly  is  inevitable  by  reason  of  natural  conditions,  the  power  must 
exist  to  minimize  its  detrimental  effects.  Wherever  physical  conditions  are 
naturally  limited  for  carrying  on  some  business,  a  case  arises  for  special  control; 
and  this  will  often  be  true  of  mill  and  wharf  rights;  but  it  is  also  possible  that 
economic  conditions  will  tend  to  make  a  business  a  monopoly;  so  the  business  of 
an  exchange  cannot  be  advantageously  carried  on  except  by  a  cooperation  and 

"  The  italics  are  mine. 

"  The  Police  Power,  by  Ernst  Freund,  page  389. 


264  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

concentration  of  all  interests.    The  regulation  of  charges  would  seem  as  justifiable 
here  as  in  the  grain  elevator  cases. '^ 

Some  illustrations  of  these  same  principles  are  cited  from  Eng- 
land by  Mr.  Freimd,  as  follows: 

An  instance  of  regulation  of  prices  in  case  of  a  monopoly  is  found  in  Dasent, 
Acts  of  the  Privy  Council,  1545,  p.  192;  on  complaint  made  by  the  whole  company 
of  bowyers  that  one  Petersvan  Helden,  of  the  Steelyard,  having  in  his  hands  the 
whole  trade  of  bringing  in  of  bowstaves  into  the  realm,  demanded  such  excessive 
prices  as  they  were  not  able  to  Uve  up  the  gain  that  should  rest  upon  them,  giving 
so  excessively  for  the  same,  it  was  ordained  that  he  should  not  demand  above 
£7  sh.  10  for  the  band. — In  the  leading  English  case,  Allnut  v.  Inglis,  12  East, 
527,  the  power  to  prevent  unreasonable  charges  was  based  upon  the  special 
privileges  enjoyed  by  the  dock  company. 

In  the  leading  case  of  Munn  v.  Illinois,  94  U.  S.,  113,  the  basic 
principles  were  stated  justifying  the  exercise  of  the  police  power  by 
the  state  in  the  naming  of  charges  for  services  rendered.  These 
doctrines  have  been  applied  consistently  in  subsequent  cases. 

In  Budd  V.  New  York,  143  U.  S.  517,  at  page  535,  the  Supreme 
Court  succinctly  stated  the  gist  of  the  doctrine  established  in  Munn 
V.  Illinois,  as  follows: 

It  said,  that  under  the  powers  of  government  inherent  in  every  sovereignty, 
"the  government  regulates  the  conduct  of  its  citizens  one  toward  another,  and 
the  manner  in  which  each  shall  use  his  own  property,  when  such  regulation  be- 
comes necessary  for  the  public  good";  and  that,  "in  their  exercise  it  has  been 
customary  in  England  from  time  immemorial,  and  in  this  country  from  its  first 
colonization,  to  regulate  ferries,  common  carriers,  hackmen,  bakers,  millers, 
wharfingers,  inn-keepers,  etc.,  and  in  so  doing  to  fix  a  maximum  of  charge  to  be 
made  for  services  rendered,  accommodations  furnished,  and  articles  sold."  It  was 
added:  "To  this  date,  statutes  are  to  be  found  in  many  of  the  states  upon  some 
or  all  these  subjects;  and  we  think  it  has  never  yet  been  successfully  contended 
that  such  legislation  came  within  any  of  the  constitutional  prohibitions  against 
interference  with  private  property." 

In  a  case  entitled  Coiling  v.  Kansas  City  Stock  Yards  Co.,  183 
U.  S.,  79,  the  writer  of  the  opinion  of  the  court,  Mr.  Justice  Brewer, 
attempted  to  make  a  distinction  between  the  method  by  which  the 
state  should  determine  the  charges  levied  by  a  company  performing 
some  public  service,  as  distinguished  from  companies  not  engaged  in 
such  services,  and  which  have  devoted  their  property  to  a  use  in 
which  the  public  has  an  interest. ^^    Mr.  Justice  Brewer  cited  Munn 

"  The  Police  Power,  by  Ernst  Freund,  p.  387. 

"  Cotting  v.  Kansas  City  Stock  Yards  Co.,  183  U.  S.,  85. 


Federal  Regulation  of  Prices  on  Food  and  Fuels   265 

V.  Illinois,  and  a  large  number  of  subsequent  decisions  based  upon 
that  case,  making  the  following  comment: 

These  decisions  go  beyond  but  are  in  line  with  those  in  which  was  recognized 
the  power  of  the  state  to  regulate  charges  for  services  connected  with  any  strictly 
public  employment,  as,  for  instance,  in  the  matter  of  common  carriage,  supply  of 
water,  gas,  etc." 

Mr.  Justice  Brewer  had  frequently  dissented  from  the  prevail- 
ing application  of  Munn  v.  Illinois,  but  in  writing  the  opinion  in 
the  Stock  Yards  Case,  he  frankly  held  that  the  state  had  the  power 
to  make  reasonable  regulation  of  the  charges  for  services  rendered 
by  the  Stock  Yards  Company. 

At  great  length  Mr.  Justice  Brewer  outlined  a  difference  in 
principle  in  the  determination  of  what  the  charges  should  be  for  a 
company  performing  a  public  service,  and  on  performing  a  service 
in  which  the  public  is  interested,  but  not  a  distinctly  public  employ- 
ment. He  also  discussed  a  second  issue  and  held  that  the  statute  of 
Kansas  was  in  violation  of  the  Fourteenth  Amendment  to  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States  in  that  it  applied  to  the  Kansas  City 
Stock  Yards  Company  only,  and  not  to  other  companies  engaged  in 
like  business  in  that  state. 

It  was  on  this  second  point,  and  that  alone,  that  a  majority  of 
the  Supreme  Court  concurred  with  Mr.  Justice  Brewer,  who  wrote 
the  opinion.  Six  members  of  the  court  declined  to  concur  or  to 
express  an  opinion  on  the  first  question  stated.  In  this  decision  Mr. 
Justice  Brewer  stated: 

While  not  a  common  carrier,  nor  engaged  in  any  distinctly  public  employ- 
ment, it  is  doing  a  work  in  which  the  public  has  an  interest,  and,  therefore,  must 
be  considered  as  subject  to  government  regulation. 

In  the  recent  case  of  German  Alliance  Insurance  Co.  v.  Kansas, 
233  U.  S.,  389,  the  issue  was  whether  insurance  rates  could  be 
regulated  by  the  state  under  its  police  power.  The  opposition 
claimed : 

The  basic  contention  is  that  the  business  of  insurance  is  a  natural  right, 
receiving  no  privilege  from  the  state,  is  voluntarily  entered  into,  cannot  be  com- 
pelled nor  can  any  of  its  exercises  be  compelled;  that  it  concerns  personal  con- 
tracts of  indemnity  against  certain  contingencies  merely.  Whether  such  con- 
tracts shall  be  made  at  all,  it  is  contended,  is  a  matter  of  private  negotiation  and 
agreement,  and  necessarily  there  must  be  freedom  in  fixing  their  terms.    And 

"  Colling  v.  Kansas  Cily  Stock  Yards  Co.,  183  U.  S.,  85.     Italics  are  mine. 


266  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

"where  the  right  to  demand  and  receive  service  does  not  exist  in  the  public,  the 
correlative  right  of  regulation  as  to  rates  and  charges  does  not  exist. "^' 

The  issue  was  very  clearly  stated  by  the  court  in  the  following 
language : 

We  may  put  aside,  therefore,  all  merely  adventitious  considerations  and  come 
to  the  bare  and  essential  one,  whether  a  contract  of  fire  insurance  is  private  and 
as  such  has  constitutional  immunity  from  regulation.  Or,  to  state  it  differently 
and  to  express  an  antithetical  proposition,  is  the  business  of  insurance  so  far 
affected  with  a  pubUc  interest  as  to  justify  legislative  regulation  of  its  rates!  ^' 

The  discussion  by  the  court  of  the  factors  involved  is  very  in- 
structive.    Summarizing  a  review  of  the  cases  the  court  stated: 

The  cases  need  no  explanatory  or  fortifying  comment.  They  demonstrate 
that  a  business,  by  circumstances  and  its  nature,  may  rise  from  private  to  be  of 
public  concern  and  be  subject,  in  consequence,  to  governmental  regulation.  And 
they  demonstrate,  to  apply  the  language  of  Judge  Andrews  in  People  v.  Budd, 
117  N.  Y.,  1,  27,  that  the  attempts  made  to  place  the  right  of  public  regulation 
in  the  cases  in  which  it  has  been  exerted,  and  of  which  we  have  given  examples, 
upon  the  groimd  of  special  privilege  conferred  by  the  public  on  those  affected 
cannot  be  supported.  "The  underlying  principle  is  that  business  of  certain  kinds 
holds  such  a  peculiar  relation  to  the  pubhc  interests  that  there  is  superinduced 
upon  it  the  right  of  pubhc  regulation."  Is  the  business  of  insurance  within  the 
principle?  It  would  be  a  bold  thing  to  say  the  principle  is  fixed,  inelastic,  in  the 
precedents  of  the  past  and  cannot  be  applied  though  modern  economic  conditions 
may  make  necessary  or  beneficial  its  application.  In  other  words,  to  say  that 
government  possessed  at  one  time  a  greater  power  to  recognize  the  public  interest 
in  a  business  and  its  regulation  to  promote  the  general  welfare  than  government 
possesses  today.  We  proceed  then  to  consider  whether  the  business  of  insurance 
is  within  the  principle."" 

The  court  holds  the  insurance  business  to  be  of  such  a  character 
as  to  justify  public  regulation.  The  existence  of  a  monopoly  as  a 
justification  for  regulation  is  well  established  and  generally  recog- 
nized. Mr.  Wyman  in  his  work  on  Public  Service  Corporations, 
written  while  a  member  of  the  law  faculty  of  Harvard,  stated  the 
accepted  doctrine  in  the  following  language:''^ 

It  will  have  been  noticed,  therefore,  that  the  principle  of  law  which  permits 
the  regulation  of  these  caUings  has  never  been  abandoned,  though  the  conditions 
calling  for  its  appUcation  at  various  times  have  greatly  changed.    Whenever  the 

"  German  Alliance  Insurance  Co.  v.  Kansas,  233  U.  S.,  405. 
i»  Ibid.,  406. 
"/bid.,  411. 
"  Sec.  29,  33. 


Federal  Regulation  of  Prices  on  Food  and  Fuels  267 

public  is  subjected  to  a  monopoly  the  power  of  oppression,  inherent  in  a  monop- 
oly, is  restricted  by  law.  Whenever,  on  the  other  hand,  competition  becomes  free, 
both  in  law  and  in  fact,  the  need  of  governmental  regulation  ceases;  public  opinion 

ceases  to  demand  such  regulation,  and  the  law  withdraws  it 

The  programme  of  organized  society  is  practically  to  see  to  it  that  those  who 
have  gained  a  substantial  control  of  their  market  shall  not  be  left  free  to  exploit 
those  who  look  to  them  to  supply  their  needs.  Men  now  see  clearly  that  freedom 
of  action  in  the  industrial  world  may  work  injuriously  for  the  public,  and  it  must 
then  be  restrained  in  the  pubUc  interest.  Having  seen  the  results  of  unrestrained 
power  we  no  longer  wish  those  who  have  control  of  our  destinies  to  be  left  free  to 
do  with  us  as  they  please.    Such  liberty  for  them  would  mean  enslavement  for  us. 

The  broad  police  power  of  the  government  in  regard  to  matters 
over  which  it  has  control  has  been  constantly  stated  and  restated 
in  the  decisions.     The  following  is  typical: 

Regulations  respecting  the  pursuit  of  a  lawful  trade  or  business  are  of  very 
frequent  occurrence  in  the  various  cities  of  the  country,  and  what  such  regulations 
shall  be  and  to  what  particular  trade,  business  or  occupation  they  shall  apply,  are 
questions  for  the  state  to  determine,  and  their  determination  comes  within  the 
proper  exercise  of  the  police  power  by  the  state,  and  unless  the  regulations  are 
so  utterly  imreasonable  and  extravagant  in  their  nature  and  purpose  that  the 
property  and  personal  rights  of  the  citizen  are  unnecessarily,  and  in  a  manner 
wholly  arbitrary,  interfered  with  or  destroyed  without  due  process  of  law,  they 
do  not  extend  beyond  the  power  of  the  state  to  pass,  and  they  form  no  subject 
for  federal  interference.^^ 

Conclusion 

Public  necessity — the  general  welfare — is  the  test  as  to  the  ex- 
tent of  the  police  power  of  a  government.  What  shall  be  regu- 
lated is  a  legislative  question,  and  the  courts  will  not  interfere 
with  the  action  of  the  Congress  or  state  legislature  over  matters 
under  their  control,  providing  there  is  not  a  clear  abuse  of  legis- 
lative discretion,  an  arbitrary  action  without  reason  or  justification. 

The  regulation  of  prices  on  food  and  fuels  during  the  war  is 
justified  for  the  reason  that  the  general  welfare  of  the  people  demands 
this  action:  (1)  because  the  purchase  and  sale  of  these  commodities  in 
different  parts  of  the  country  have  been  dominated  by  powerful 
combinations  of  moneyed  interests  which  are  exacting  excessive 
charges  for  that  which  they  have  to  sell;  and  (2)  as  a  matter  of 
common  defense  in  a  war  where  other  governments  have  resorted 
to  the  same  and  even  more  drastic  measures. 

It  would  be  a  strange  and  most  unfortunate  situation,  while 

"  Gundling  v.  Chicago,  177  U.  S.,  183. 


268  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

other  governments  are  protecting  their  people  from  exorbitant 
charges  at  this  crucial  period  in  world  history,  if  our  government 
should  be  helpless  to  do  so;  or  possessing  that  power,  it  should  fail 
to  perform  a  similar  service  for  the  American  people. 

Without  attempting  to  discuss  the  various  provisions  of  the 
measures  which  have  passed  Congress,  if  the  basic  principle  upon 
which  these  laws  are  framed  should  be  tested,  the  decisions  of  the 
courts  of  last  resort  clearly  indicate  that  the  acts  in  question  would 
be  sustained  and  be  within  the  legislative  discretion  of  Congress. 


WHAT    COOPERATION    CAN    DO    AND    IS    DOING    IN 
LOWERING     FOOD     COSTS 

By  Peter  Hamilton, 
New  York  City. 

Legislation  and  proclamations,  intended  to  restrain  the  dispo- 
sition toward  exorbitant  prices,  can  have  but  a  temporary  and  im- 
perfect result  because  they  do  not  touch,  or  they  touch  very  super- 
ficially, the  fundamental  cause  of  extortion.  They  are  like  the 
remedies  of  the  old-fashioned  medical  practitioner  of  a  generation 
ago,  who  treated  symptoms  with  strong  drugs  instead  of  seeking  to 
remove  the  cause  of  disease.  Frequently  the  drug  effects  compli- 
cated the  symptoms,  so  that  the  patient  was  in  worse  straits  than 
before.  Modern  medicine  has  learned  that  until  the  cause  has  been 
removed  it  is  futile  to  merely  treat  symptoms. 

Scarcity  of  supply,  greatly  increased  demand,  one  or  both,  are 
the  legitimate  immediate  causes  of  high  prices.  Monopoly,  ar- 
tificial scarcity  induced  by  withholding  supplies  from  an  eager 
market,  cupidity,  employing  one  pretext  or  another,  are  the  im- 
mediate causes  of  extortion.  But  back  of  monopoly, ^back  of 
cupidity  and  chicanery  is  the  selfish  motive  of  private  profit.  It  is 
for  this  that  men  cheat  each  other  and  descend  to  all  the  unfair 
practices  which  have  puzzled  legislators  and  reformers.  This  is  the 
fundamental  cause  of  extortion  and  sharp  practice  between  men  and 
between  nations.  Indeed,  if  complete  analysis  be  made,  it  is  the 
cause  of  war  itself.  Our  legislators  and  reformers  are  like  the  old- 
fashioned  practitioner,  frantically  treating  symptoms  with  strong 


Cooperation  and  Lowering  Food  Costs  269 

measures  and  not  effecting  a  cure.  The  socialists,  on  the  other  hand, 
are  good  diagnosticians.  They  know  the  cause  but  they  are  short 
on  therapeutics,  and  their  remedy  would  be  likely  to  throw  the  pa- 
tient into  fits.  The  syndicalists,  known  in  this  country  as  the 
"Industrial  Workers  of  the  World,"  have,  like  the  socialists,  diag- 
nosticated correctly,  but  their  remedy  would  be  the  knife,  a  radical 
surgical  operation  at  whatever  risk  to  the  patient. 

The  cooperator  is  the  only  one  among  these  economic  doctors 
who  has  the  correct  diagnosis  and  whose  remedy  will  effect  a  cure 
by  removing  the  cause  without  unduly  upsetting  the  patient.  He 
knows  that  the  disease  is  chronic  and  must  be  subjected  to  a  long 
course  of  treatment  adapted  to  the  patient's  constitution.  He  does 
not  believe  in  excessive  doses  that  may  disturb  the  digestion  and 
nervous  system  of  the  invalid.  His  purpose  is  a  complete  cure,  but 
he  realizes  that  he  need  not  hurry  and  does  not  administer  his 
remedy  faster  than  it  can  be  absorbed  and  assimilated.  Thus  will 
he  succeed  where  the  others  have  failed,  and  the  outcome  is  not  in 
doubt  though  the  time  of  its  full  accomplishment  may  be  deferred. 

At  the  outset  of  our  consideration  of  cooperation  as  a  means  of 
lowering  food  costs,  a  distinction  should  be  clearly  recognized  be- 
tween producers'  and  consumers'  cooperation.  The  former  has  for 
its  underlying  motive  the  making  of  profit,  as  much  profit  as  pos- 
sible, from  the  sale  of  its  product.  It  would  increase  instead  of 
lower  prices.  It  would  constitute  the  same  kind  of  coordination  of 
special  interests,  yielding  disproportionate  benefits  to  a  few,  more 
or  less  at  the  expense  of  the  many,  that  we  see  in  the  trusts  and  with 
even  greater  menace  to  the  general  welfare;  for  it  would,  when  fully 
grown,  control  not  only  the  product  of  labor,  as  do  the  trusts,  but 
also  labor  itself,  as  do  the  labor  unions.  With  the  selfish  motive 
of  private  profit  still  present,  the  temptation  to  run  up  prices  would 
be  irresistible.  Nor  would  there  be,  as,  theoretically,  in  our  present 
system,  the  wholesome  restraint  through  the  fear  of  drawing  com- 
petitors into  the  field  by  putting  the  prices  too  high,  for  labor, 
especially  if  highly  skilled,  would  be  monopolized  and  held  by  its 
own  self-interest,  making  impossible  the  organization  of  successful 
competition.  It  is  easily  imaginable  that  agricultural  cooperation 
might  lead  to  a  similar  result  if  a  very  large  proportion  of  farmers 
were  combined  in  one  organization.  Their  motives  would  be  no 
more  philanthropic  or  self-sacrificing  than  any  other  kind  of  a  trust, 


270  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

and  the  rest  of  the  world  would  have  to  pay  the  price  that  they 
might  dictate  or  go  hungry.  The  farmer,  naturally  and  invariably, 
wants  to  sell  in  the  highest  market,  to  make  the  largest  profit  pos- 
sible, and  this  is  the  purpose  of  all  his  efforts  at  cooperation.  The 
citrus  fruit  growers  and  other  organized  agricultural  interests 
have  demonstrated  the  great  potency  of  cooperation  to  get  things 
done.  But  when  they  avoid  a  glutted  market  and  keep  themselves 
advised  through  excellent  arrangements  of  communication  as  to 
where  there  is  a  scarcity  and  send  their  product  into  the  undersup- 
plied  market,  it  is  not  with  a  desire  to  effect  more  perfect  distribu- 
tion 'per  se,  but  to  make  more  profit.  Everyone  is  familiar  with  the 
wasteful  and  sometimes  foolish  efforts  of  the  farmer  to  raise  the 
price  of  his  product  by  destroying  part  of  it,  and  this  while  there 
are  people  in  almost  every  community  in  dire  need  of  what  he  burns. 
He  ruthlessly  seeks  his  profits;  and  this  motive  is  not  changed  nor  is 
his  ruthlessness  diminished  when  he,  as  a  producer,  cooperates. 
Cooperation  with  his  fellow-producers  enables  him  to  effect  econo- 
mies, lifts  him  out  of  the  slough  of  despond  in  which  he  desperately 
practices  waste  in  a  blind  attempt  to  help  himself,  gives  him  the 
facilities  of  an  up-to-date  merchant  in  disposing  of  his  yield,  but 
just  the  same  as  ever  before  he  still  wants  the  highest  price  the 
traffic  will  bear  and  he  espouses  cooperation  only  because  it  helps 
him  to  realize  this  desire.  In  this  kind  of  cooperation  the  quality 
of  the  product  may  be  improved,  many  sources  of  waste  ehminated 
and  the  farmer  made  prosperous  and  happy;  but  there  is  Uttle 
prospect  that  it  will  lower  food  costs  to  the  consumer. 

Consumers'  cooperation,  on  the  other  hand,  yields  no  profits 
to  one  set  of  men  out  of  the  needs  of  another.  It  is  a  coming  to- 
gether for  mutual  benefit  on  the  broadest,  most  inclusive  conceiv- 
able basis  of  common  interest — that  of  the  consumer.  Every 
human  being  is  a  consumer  and  eligible  for  participation  in  con- 
sumers' cooperation.  Instead  of  a  few  with  a  class  interest,  as  in 
producers'  cooperation,  it  is,  or  may  be,  everybody,  with  a  universal 
interest, — "each  for  all  and  all  for  each,"  according  to  the  motto  of 
the  English  cooperators,  and  with  all  suspicion  of  exploitation  elim- 
inated. Here  you  have  a  new  system  of  economics  in  which  the 
only  motive  is  to  produce  and  distribute  the  good  things  of  life  at 
the  lowest  possible  cost,  because  the  sole  beneficiaries  and  pro- 
prietors of  the  system  are  the  consumers.     All  motives  to  charge 


Cooperation  and  Lowering  Food  Costs  271 

exorbitant  prices  are  here  absent.  They  cannot  overcharge  them- 
selves, because  any  excess,  however  large  or  small,  that  may  be 
charged  above  the  cost  of  production  and  distribution,  is  returned  to 
each  member  patron  in  the  form  of  a  dividend.  To  burn  up  or 
otherwise  destroy  anything  in  order  to  raise  the  price  would  be  rec- 
ognized as  a  pure  waste  and  an  obvious  absurdity.  Every  saving, 
however  small,  benefits  every  consumer,  just  as  every  loss  is  his 
loss.  Everybody  would  be  hurt  and  nobody  benefited  by  adul- 
teration and  misrepresentation,  and  so  they  have  no  place,  no  reason 
for  existing,  in  consumers'  cooperation . 

This  attempt  to  sharply  contrast  producers'  with  consumers' 
cooperation  is  prompted  by  the  evident  failure  of  many  who  speak 
and  write  on  the  subject  to  discern  the  radical  difference  between 
them.  As  they  spring  from  different  motives  they  should  not  be 
confused  one  with  the  other. 

Consumers'  cooperation  as  first  inaugurated  by  the  Rochdale 
Pioneers  in  1844  was  born  out  of  a  pressing  necessity  to  reduce  food 
costs.  This  was  at  first  its  only  purpose.  It  succeeded  more 
wonderfully  than  its  founders,  in  all  probability,  ever  expected.  A 
brief  recital  of  the  story  of  the  Rochdale  Pioneers,  though  its  de- 
tails may  be  familiar  to  many,  will  do  more  than  any  extended 
argument  to  show  the  power  of  consumers'  cooperation  to  reduce 
the  cost  of  food  and  of  every  other  necessity  and  to  give  the  con- 
sumer command  over  the  sources  of  the  things  he  needs. 

There  had  been  a  strike  for  higher  wages  among  the  flannel 
weavers  of  Rochdale,  England,  and  the  weavers  were  beaten  and  had 
to  go  back  to  work  at  the  same  pay.  They  claimed  that  this  was 
not  enough  to  buy  their  actual  necessities.  The  workers  in  one 
mill,  having  faith  in  the  good  heart  of  their  employer,  went  to  him 
and  showed  him  that  rent  and  food  and  clothing  came  to  more  than 
their  wages,  that  they  were  unable  to  meet  expenses  for  bare  neces- 
sities and  that  the  education  and  proper  care  of  their  children  was 
out  of  the  question.  They  wanted  his  advice  and  help.  He  saw 
their  desperation  and  was  moved  by  sympathy,  but  he  told  them 
that  if  he  raised  wages  he  would  not  be  able  to  meet  competition 
and  would  have  to  go  out  of  business.  They,  of  course,  saw  the 
force  of  this.  He  was  willing  to  pay  higher  wages  if  his  competitors 
would  all  do  the  same,  and  he  recommended  that  they  try  to  induce 
the  other  mill  owners  to  enter  with  him  into  such  an  arrangement. 


272  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

It  may  be  imagined  how  ineffective  was  this  small  band  of  humble 
workmen,  hat  in  hand,  trjdng  to  change  the  policies  of  the  magnates 
of  that  day.  In  many  instances  they  were  not  even  granted  an 
interview.  Hopeless  of  obtaining  more  pay,  they  were  driven  to 
the  expedient  of  trying  to  buy  still  more  cheaply  and  out  of  this,  their 
necessity,  has  arisen  the  great  cooperative  movement  of  Great 
Britain,  which  has  done  so  much  to  keep  a  decent  Hving  within  the 
reach  of  the  workingman  and  after  which  have  been  patterned  sim- 
ilar movements  in  many  other  countries. 

Their  first  step  was  to  pool  their  purchases  of  flour  and  to  buy 
a  sack  at  wholesale,  instead  of  the  small  quantities  at  high  prices 
their  slender  purses  had  previously  made  necessary.  This  was 
trundled  in  a  wheelbarrow  by  one  of  their  number,  and  thus  was 
each  family's  share  delivered.  Though  the  saving  was  small,  they 
had  enough  vision  to  see  that  if  applied  to  many  things  it  would  be- 
come appreciable  and  mean  for  them  the  addition  of  some  comforts 
to  the  actual  necessities  of  life.  But  to  deal  in  a  variety  of  articles 
it  was  necessary  to  have  a  place  to  keep  them,  and  so  they  con- 
ceived the  idea  of  raising  by  instalment  subscription  enough  capital 
to  open  a  store.  There  were  twenty-eight  of  them,  referred  to  ever 
since  as  the  twenty-eight  Rochdale  Pioneers,  and  the  most  they  felt 
able  to  pay  was  an  instalment  of  two  pence  per  week.  Stories  are 
told  of  the  sacrifices  even  this  small  payment  involved  on  the  part 
of  some  of  them.  But  at  last  each  of  them  had  contributed  one 
pound  to  the  fund  and  this  gave  them  a  working  capital  of  about 
$140.  With  this  they  opened  their  store  in  Toad  Lane,  Rochdale, 
in  1844,  stocked  with  a  very  limited  supply  of  dry  groceries,  open 
one  night  a  week  and  attended  by  some  one  of  their  own  number. 
The  story  has  it,  and  it  is  quite  easy  to  believe,  that  on  the  evening 
of  their  first  opening  they  were  jeered  and  laughed  at  and  unpleasant 
missiles  were  thrown  at  their  windows  by  their  fellow-workers  who 
had  not  caught  the  vision  of  the  pioneers  and  who  regarded  them  as 
a  crazy  set  of  fellows  ambitious  to  get  out  of  their  class  and  become 
shopkeepers. 

But  the  most  notable  feature  of  this  infant  enterprise  was  the 
set  of  rules  they  adopted.  First,  they  would  charge  themselves  the 
same  prices  that  other  stores  were  charging.  They  did  not  want 
to  stir  up  any  unnecessary  animosity  from  the  neighboring  dealers 
by  appearing  to  cut  prices.     Second,  after  bills  and  expenses  were 


Cooperation  and  Lowering  Food  Costs  273 

paid,  any  surplus  remaining,  ordinarily  called  profit,  was  to  be  re- 
turned as  dividends  to  the  members,  not  in  proportion,  however,  to 
the  amount  of  share  capital  held,  but  in  proportion  to  the  amount  of 
their  purchases.  Third,  interest  on  capital  was  to  be  treated  as  an 
expense.  Capital,  being  stored  up  labor,  was  deserving  of  its  wage 
at  the  prevailing  rate  for  a  safe  investment,  but  no  more.  They  did 
not  subscribe  to  the  theory  of  the  early  socialists  that  interest  was 
immoral.  Nor  did  they  believe  that  capital,  an  inanimate  thing, 
should  receive  all  the  profits  arising  from  the  activities  and  patron- 
age of  living  beings  after  paying  to  labor  the  lowest  wage  it  could  be 
forced  to  accept.  Fourth,  each  member  was  to  have  one  vote  in  the 
control  of  the  affairs  of  the  society  regardless  of  the  amount  of  share 
capital  he  might  hold,  and  there  was  to  be  no  voting  by  proxy. 
The  obvious  purpose  of  this  was  to  prevent  a  designing  few  from 
gaining  control  for  selfish  ends.  Fifth,  their  sales  and  purchases 
were  all  to  be  for  cash.  It  was  unjust  to  him  who  paid  cash  to  sell 
to  another  at  the  same  price  on  credit.  Losses  from  bad  debts 
would  reduce  dividends,  accounting  would  of  necessity  be  more 
complicated  and  expensive,  besides  which  cash  discounts  on  pur- 
chases, which  were  a  consideration  in  lowering  costs,  could  not  be 
taken  advantage  of  if  they  sold  on  credit.  This  has  been  a  cardinal 
principle  of  the  cooperators  throughout,  although  some  societies 
have  not  adhered  strictly  to  the  ideal  and  those  that  have  got  into 
trouble  have  done  so  most  frequently  from  violating  this  rule. 

With  capital  so  limited  and  with  inexperience  so  vast  the  little 
store  had  its  inevitable  difficulties,  but  it  survived  and  finally  pros- 
pered and  so  sure  were  the  benefits  its  owners  had  realized  that  they 
wanted  to  extend  them  to  others  of  their  class,  and  so  they  voted  to 
put  aside  out  of  surplus,  before  declaring  dividends,  a  fund  for  edu- 
cational purposes  and  thus,  with  their  help  and  guidance,  more 
stores  of  the  same  kind  were  opened  in  neighboring  communities. 
As  time  went  on  these  stores  began  to  pool  their  purchases  through 
buying  agencies,  on  the  same  principle  the  Pioneers  followed  in  the 
beginning  with  their  first  sack  of  flour,  until  in  1864  they  decided  to 
open  a  wholesale  depot  at  Manchester.  They  had  for  twenty  years 
now  been  saving  for  themselves  the  retail  profit  on  what  they  bought; 
from  thenceforth  they  would  add  to  this  the  wholesaler's  profit. 
To  raise  the  necessary  capital,  each  retail  society  participating  was 
required  to  subscribe  to  shares  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  its 


274  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

members  and  each  society  was  given  a  proportional  vote  in  the 
affairs  of  the  wholesale  organization,  based  also  upon  the  number  of 
its  members.  The  payment  of  interest  on  invested  capital,  the  fix- 
ing of  wholesale  prices  and  the  distribution  of  dividends  on  pur- 
chases followed  the  same  principle  as  that  described  for  the  retail 
societies,  each  retail  store  paying  the  regular  wholesale  prices  and 
receiving  its  dividends  and  interest  on  its  invested  capital,  these, 
in  turn,  to  be  included  in  its  reckonings  with  its  own  members. 

Up  to  this  point  the  only  opposition  the  movement  had  en- 
countered was  from  the  small  retail  merchant.  He  was  the  one 
whose  ox  was  being  gored  and  he  made  it  as  hard  for  the  cooperators, 
wherever  they  appeared,  as  he  knew  how.  Those  of  larger  affairs, 
the  wholesalers  and  manufacturers,  had  regarded  the  movement  as 
a  commendable  effort  on  the  part  of  the  workingman  to  be  thrifty 
and  improve  his  circumstances.  But  when  he  became  so  ambitious 
as  to  open  a  wholesale  establishment — that  was  entirely  a  different 
matter.  Then  he  became  a  nuisance  and  had  to  be  stopped  at  once 
if  possible.  Certain  manufacturers  refused  to  sell  to  the  wholesale 
society  because  their  jobber  customers  threatened  to  boycott  them 
if  they  did.  The  cooperators  were  apparently  not  discouraged  by 
this  for  they  were  by  now  able  to  raise  any  amount  of  capital  that 
they  needed,  and  so  they  opened  and  equipped  factories  of  their 
own  in  lines  where  they  had  difficulty  in  obtaining  supplies.  These 
factories  became  departments  of  the  great  Cooperative  Wholesale 
Society;  and  thus  not  only  the  wholesaler's  profit  but  that  of  the 
manufacturer  as  well  was  added  to  the  savings  of  the  cooperators. 
Line  after  line  of  manufacturing  was  invaded  in  this  way  by  a 
steady  and  progressive  program,  until  the  great  wholesale  society 
had  become  the  manufacturer  of  almost  every  article  that  was 
needed  for  comfortable  living.  Later  the  tea  monopoly  gave  them 
trouble  and  they  went  to  Ceylon,  bought  large  tea  estates  and  be- 
gan raising  and  curing  their  own  tea.  They  have  acquired  many 
large  estates  in  England,  Scotland  and  Ireland,  where  they  farm  the 
land  and  use  the  old  manors  as  convalescent  homes,  vacation  re- 
treats, a  kind  of  country  cinb  for  their  own  members.  They  have 
small  coasting  steamers,  which,  before  the  war,  went  to  Mediter- 
ranean ports  and  as  far  as  Spain  for  the  products  of  those  countries, 
chiefly  small  fruits  to  be  made  into  preserves  and  jams  in  their  own " 
mammoth  canning  establishments.     They  were  not  satisfied  with 


Cooperation  and  Lowering  Food  Costs  275 

their  supply  of  vegetable  oils  for  the  manufacture  of  soap,  so  they 
bought  a  great  tract  of  land  on  the  Guinea  coast  where  they  produce 
their  own  oil  and  grow  tropical  fruits  besides.  For  years  they  have 
had  their  own  grain  elevators  in  Canada,  and  within  the  last  eighteen 
months  they  have  bought  between  ten  and  eleven  thousand  acres 
of  wheat  land,  under  cultivation,  in  the  province  of  Saskatchewan, 
western  Canada.  They  have  buying  agents  on  the  produce  ex- 
changes of  every  great  producing  country  of  the  world.  Mr.  John 
Gledhill,  their  representative  on  the  New  York  exchange,  purchases 
for  them  between  ten  and  fifteen  million  dollars  worth  of  American 
foodstuffs  every  year,  their  representative  at  Montreal  also  pur- 
chasing very  large  amounts.  They  have  become  the  proprietors  of 
a  coal  mine  connected  with  which  is  a  line  of  railroad.  They  have 
upwards  of  three  hundred  million  dollars  invested  capital,  a  yearly 
turnover  of  more  than  seven  hundred  millions  of  dollars  and  many 
thousands  of  employes,  almost  all  of  whom  are  members  of  the  re- 
tail societies.  There  are  more  than  fifteen  hundred  retail  societies, 
having  a  membership,  in  round  numbers,  of  three  million  persons. 
These  are  supposably  heads  of  families.  Counting  five  to  a 
family,  there  would  be  fifteen  million  people  in  the  United  King- 
dom now  enjoying  the  benefits  of  consumers'  cooperation.  As 
the  last  census  gives  Great  Britain  a  population  of  about  forty- 
seven  million,  it  will  be  seen  that  a  third  of  the  people  who  live 
there  are  cooperators. 

What  will  be  the  result  when  a  majority  of  the  population  shall 
have  entered  the  movement?  Business  of  the  old  kind  will  have  to 
capitulate.  It  could  not  continue  without  customers.  There  will, 
more  probably,  be  a  gradual  amalgamation  of  the  old  with  the  new, 
and  eventually  all  business  may  be  conducted  under  the  system 
established  by  the  cooperators. 

When  the  war  started  in  1914  there  was  a  great  fear  in  England, 
amounting  almost  to  a  panic,  that  there  would  be  a  scarcity  of  food. 
Those  who  had  the  means  began  to  buy  in  greatly  increased  quan- 
tities in  anticipation  of  a  famine.  Prices  began  to  rise  and  this  but 
added  to  the  determination  of  those  who  could  to  fill  their  cellars 
with  supplies  for  the  future.  Those  not  able  to  follow  this  course 
must  have  been  in  despair.  Retail  merchants  were  taking  advan- 
tage of  the  opportunity  to  make  large  profits  by  boosting  prices  on 
any  pretext  that  seemed  at  all  plausible.     The  retail  stores  of  the 


276  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

cooperatives  continued  to  sell  at  the  old  prices,  which  resulted  in 
such  an  increase  of  patronage  that  the  managers  of  some  of  them 
became  anxious  and  communicated  with  the  executive  committee 
of  the  wholesale  society  as  to  available  supplies.  An  inventory  of 
the  great  storehouses  of  the  wholesale  society  was  quickly  taken, 
by  which  it  was  determined  that  there  was  a  supply  of  most  edibles 
sufficient  for  four  months  at  their  regular  rate  of  consumption.  The 
retail  societies  were  advised  to  continue  without  increasing  prices, 
which  they  did.  But  in  a  few  days  it  was  seen  that  their  four 
months'  supply  would  be  quickly  gone  so  excited  and  feverish  was 
the  demand,  and  it  was  therefore  decided  that  no  sales  would  be 
made  except  to  members  of  the  societies.  The  result  of  this  ruling 
was  a  sudden  and  enormous  increase  in  the  membership  and  the 
further  restriction  had  to  be  adopted  by  the  cooperators,  with 
great  reluctance  however,  as  it  seemed  contrary  to  their  principles, 
that  no  further  new  members  would  be  admitted  until  conditions 
had  returned  more  nearly  to  normal.  Real  scarcity  and  disturb- 
ances incidental  to  war  have  since  forced  up  some  prices  even  to 
the  cooperators,  but  their  members  did  not  at  any  time  have  to 
pay  panic  prices;  and  the  later  reopening  of  their  books  for  new 
members  not  only  greatly  increased  their  membership,  but  had  a 
powerful  influence  in  making  private  merchants  return  to  a  reason- 
able level  of  prices. 

So  reasonable  were  their  prices,  so  readily  could  their  great 
wholesale  establishments  furnish  vast  quantities  of  clothing  and 
shoes  and  bedding  and  other  things  needed  in  the  equipment  of 
soldiers,  that  they  quickly  came  to  correspond  to  a  great  commissa- 
riat of  the  government  and  in  the  first  days  of  mobilization,  when  the 
government  was  puzzled  where  to  find  sufficient  means  of  transpor- 
tation, they  came  forward  with  hundreds  of  automobile  trucks  and 
thousands  of  draft  horses,  placing  them  at  the  disposal  of  the  Min- 
ister of  War.  Here  it  will  be  seen  that  a  democratically  organized 
body  of  working  people,  by  intelligent  direction  of  their  combined 
purchasing  power,  were  able  not  only  to  avoid  pajdng  exorbitant 
prices  for  their  own  food  and  other  necessities,  but  to  do  much  to 
protect  the  rest  of  the  public  from  extortion  and  at  the  same  time, 
in  a  crisis,  to  come  to  the  rescue  of  a  great  government  by  supplying 
at  normal  prices  and  on  a  vast  scale  things  needful  for  an  army  of^ 
thousands.  Does  not  this  begin  to  make  it  clear  wherein  lies  th« 
application  of  consumers'  cooperation  to  the  lowering  of  food  costs? 


Cooperation  and  Lowering  Food  Costs  277 

It  would  be  interesting,  did  space  and  time  permit,  to  study 
their  great  banking  department  by  which  the  cooperators  obtain 
credit  at  cost,  the  insurance  department,  the  housing  department, 
very  much  hke  our  building  and  loan  associations  to  which  many 
members  send  the  dividends  on  their  purchases  in  order  to  pay  for  a 
home,  the  educational  and  recreational  activities  that  have  grown 
up  with  the  movement  and  made  of  every  retail  store,  with  its  meet- 
ing room  and  rostrum,  a  social  center  for  its  members,  furnishing  a 
social  life  that  was  offered  before  only  by  the  public  tavern.  It 
would  also  be  illuminating  to  turn  our  attention  to  the  functions  of 
the  great  Cooperative  Union,  which  is  maintained  by  subscriptions 
from  all  the  societies  and  which  has  charge  of  propaganda  and  the 
educational  side  of  the  movement,  compiles  statistics,  maintains 
a  bureau  of  lecturers,  musicians  and  other  artists,  a  sort  of  Chau- 
tauqua circuit  for  the  entertainment,  broadening  and  culture  of  the 
cooperators,  which  elaborates  improved  systems  of  accounting  and 
maintains  a  corps  of  trained  auditors  for  the  use  of  the  societies  and 
which  holds  a  convention  every  year  and  issues  a  voluminous  report. 
But  such  an  investigation  would  take  us  into  details  not  bearing 
directly  upon  the  lowering  of  food  costs,  which  is  our  subject. 

More  pertinent  is  a  brief  review  of  what  has  been  accomplished 
in  some  other  countries. 

In  all  the  continental  countries  of  Europe  the  movement  has  a 
good  foothold  and  in  some  it  is  taking  giant  strides.  In  Russia 
there  has  been  a  phenomenal  growth  in  the  last  four  years,  the 
necessity  for  economies  during  the  war  having  apparently  stimulated 
the  formation  of  cooperative  societies,  the  members  of  which  are  said 
now  to  number  twelve  million — representing  sixty  million  consum- 
ers. The  activities  of  the  Zemstvos,  or  peasants'  assemblies,  have 
been  potent  in  the  promotion  of  this  development. 

Germany  has  a  most  highly  organized  cooperative  movement 
with  many  societies  of  a  great  variety,  grouping  themselves  under 
and  making  reports  to  several  separate  unions.  By  far  the  largest 
number  of  its  societies  are  the  Raiffeisen  and  Schulze-Delitzsch 
cooperative  banks.  These  banks,  themselves  consumers'  societies 
(consumers  of  credit),  have  been  promotive  of  the  formation  of 
distributive  societies  for  dealing  in  food  and  other  necessaries. 
There  were  seventeen  thousand  four  hundred  and  ninety  three  such 
banks  in  Germany  in  1910,  having  a  turnover,  money  paid  in  and 


278  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

out,  in  one  year  of  $8,275,000,000.  In  the  same  year  there  were  two 
thousand  three  hundred  and  eleven  distributive  societies  with  one 
miUion,  five  hundred  thousand  members,  having  assets  of  $40,000,- 
000  and  yearly  sales  of  considerably  over  $100,000,000.  The 
German  government  has  looked  with  disfavor  on  the  cooperative 
distributive  societies  and  has  forbidden  government  employes  to 
become  members.  Since  the  war,  however,  there  are  reports  that 
many  have  defied  this  prohibition  and  joined  anyhow,  because  of  the 
many  benefits,  and  without  rebuke  from  the  government. 

In  Belgium  the  movement  is  largely  conducted  by  the  socialist 
party,  and  instead  of  returning  dividends  on  purchases,  these  are 
retained  and  are  used  for  socialist  propaganda.  The  movement 
started  as  a  cooperative  bakery,  which  has  grown  to  great  propor- 
tions, but,  on  account  of  its  socialist  affiliations,  it  was  opposed  by 
the  church  where  the  social  interests  and  amusements  of  the  people 
centered.  The  socialists,  to  offset  this,  started  recreational  com- 
munity centers  on  a  cooperative  basis,  the  largest  of  which  is  "The 
House  of  the  People"  at  Brussels.  Out  of  these  it  was  possible  to 
organize  store  societies,  and  the  movement  grew.  There  are  now 
also  cooperative  societies  under  the  auspices  of  the  church.  There 
are,  or  were,  in  Belgium  many  cooperative  peoples'  banks,  after  the 
systems  of  both  Raiffeisen  and  Schulze. 

The  Swiss  movement  is  so  strong  that  it  has  taken  over  the  meat 
monopoly  by  purchase,  and  has  entered  into  a  fight  against  the 
chocolate  interests  which  are  very  strong  and  inclined  to  be  dic- 
tatorial. 

In  the  far  east  Japan  is  not  behind,  with  over  twenty-five 
hundred  consumers'  societies  in  1909,  if  credit  societies  be  counted. 
Of  the  latter  there  were  over  eighteen  hundred  and  much  growth 
has  taken  place  since  then. 

Many  of  these  countries  have  more  or  less  perfectly  organized 
bodies  or  unions  to  which  the  societies  report,  and  these  unions  in 
turn  report  to  the  International  Cooperative  Alliance,  which  is  an 
international  propaganda  body  for  the  promotion  of  cooperation 
throughout  the  world,  and  whose  affiliated  societies  represent  be- 
tween fifty  and  one  hundred  million  people.  It  pubhshes  regularly 
a  bulletin  giving  the  progress  of  the  movement,  which  is  a  reliable 
source  of  information  on  the  subject.  Its  headquarters  are  in 
England. 


Cooperation  and  Lowering  Food  Costs  279 

In  the  United  States  less  progress  has  been  made  than  in 
Europe,  but  it  will  probably  develop  very  rapidly  when  a  good  start 
has  once  been  made.  The  Agricultural  Department  at  Washing- 
ton has  recently  interested  itself  to  make  a  survey  of  the  consumers' 
societies  throughout  the  country,  but  its  conclusions  were  not  very 
encouraging.  They  found  about  four  hundred  stores,  many  of 
which  were  not  thriving.  The  Cooperative  League  of  America, 
with  headquarters  in  New  York  at  2  West  13th  Street,  which  is  a 
purely  educational  organization  whose  purpose  is  the  spread  of 
cooperative  propaganda,  after  a  fairly  thorough  investigation  found 
five  hundred  stores  and  believes  there  are  many  more  that  do  not 
take  the  trouble  to  answer  inquiries.  They  would  estimate  the 
number  at  one  thousand,  although  all  these  may  not  be  strictly 
following  the  Rochdale  plan.  There  have  been  many  failures. 
What  may  be  stated  as  the  general  causes  of  failure,  everywhere, 
are  insufficient  capital,  inefficient  management  and  injudicious 
credits.  Other  causes,  in  America,  are  the  lack  of  homogeneity  in 
the  population  and  the  disposition,  especially  among  working- 
men,  to  move  frequently.  The  European  cooperators  have  in  large 
measure  overcome  the  general  causes  by  more  perfect  organization  ^ 
through  their  unions,  which  evolve  better  methods,  supply  auditors 
and  conduct  a  constant  campaign  of  education  for  instilling  the 
cooperative  spirit  which  makes  for  greater  loyalty  and  unity  of 
purpose.  They  also  have  the  advantage  that  the  people  in  each 
country  are  more  alike  in  tastes  and  modes  of  thought  than  in 
America,  and  for  the  most  part  they  remain  generation  after  genera- 
tion in  the  same  location,  thus  giving  time  for  accumulation  and  for 
an  appreciation  of  the  benefits  from  cooperation. 

Though  the  American  cooperators  have  not  so  far  formed  a 
union,  their  efforts  having  been  sporadic  and  widely  scattered,  the 
Cooperative  League  of  America  is  doing  much  by  correspondence, 
by  its  literature,  by  its  monthly  pubHcation,  The  Cooperative  Con- 
sumer, and  by  maintaining  field  workers  and  lecturers,  to  bring  the 
various,  unacquainted  groups  together,  to  give  them  some  knowl- 
edge of  each  other,  to  teach  them  the  possibilities  of  further  coop- 
eration in  a  wholesale  movement  and  to  develop  a  sense  of  loyalty 
to  the  idea  and  a  deeper  comprehension  of  its  meaning. 

In  conclusion  let  us  put  our  subject  in  the  form  of  a  catechism, 
as  follows:  » 


280  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

Question:  What  can  cooperation  do  in  lowering  food  costs? 

Answer:  Consumers'  cooperation  can  remove  every  motive  for 
keeping  up  food  prices  and  make  it  to  the  advantage  of  every  human 
being  to  use,  to  its  fullest  capacity,  every  device  that  will  increase 
the  yield  of  the  good  things  of  the  earth  and  that  will  distribute  them 
quickly,  easily  and  cheaply  to  those  who  would  use  them. 

Question:  What  is  cooperation  doing  in  lowering  food  costs? 

Answer:  Consumers'  cooperation  in  many  parts  of  the  world 
is  not  only  eliminating  the  profits  of  all  middlemen,  but  it  is  im- 
proving methods  of  production,  thereby  increasing  the  yield  and  is 
giving  to  the  consumer  absolute  certainty  that  the  quality  and  the 
quantity  of  what  he  buys  is  as  it  is  represented.  In  consumers' 
cooperation  it  is  to  nobody's  interest  to  follow  any  other  course. 

The  application  in  America  of  the  principles  of  the  Rochdale 
Pioneers  is  behind  other  civilized  countries  and  every  effort,  such 
as  is  being  made  by  the  Cooperative  League  of  America,  to  bring 
about  a  clearer  understanding  and  a  more  general  and  successful 
adoption  of  these  principles,  should  be  encouraged  and  supported  by 
everyone  who  has  faith  in  a  more  just  and  a  more  efficient  economic 
system. 


PRICE   CONTROL   THROUGH   INDUSTRIAL 
ORGANIZATION 

By  J.  Russell  Smith,  Ph.D., 
Professor  of  Industry,  University  of  Pennsylvania. 

Some  persons  have  been  inclined  at  times  to  smile  at  the  dis- 
tinguished iron  master  whose  name  adorns  so  many  libraries,  but  I 
regard  Andrew  Carnegie  in  the  light  of  an  economic  prophet,  for  he 
declared  years  ago  that  we  were  coming  to  the  time  when  we  would 
have  a  supreme  court  of  prices.  If  ideas  have  something  of  an 
environmental  origin,  it  is  perhaps  not  unnatural  for  Mr.  Carnegie 
to  come  to  such  conclusions  after  contemplating  the  sale  for  hun- 
dreds of  millions  of  certain  iron  properties  that  cost  scores  of  mil- 
lions. Mr.  Carnegie's  supreme  court  of  prices  is  here  embedded  in 
our  states,  as  witness  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission.  That 
it  is  also  deep  in  the  common  mind  is  shown  by  the  repeated  at- 
tempts to  create  a  Federal  Trade  Commission.  Although  that 
organization  is  still  feeble  and  almost  toothless,  after  the  manner 


Price  Control  through  Industrial  Organization     281 

of  beginners,  yet  the  occurrences  of  the  past  two  years  show  that  it 
has  promise  of  long  Hfe,  great  growth,  and  far-reaching  influence. 
For  price  regulation,  like  many  other  forms  of  industrial  control, 
is  here  to  stay. 

The  necessities  of  price  regulation  have  made  Woodrow  Wilson, 
who  calls  himself  a  democrat,  recommend  and  fight  for  legislation 
so  sweeping  that  it  would  surely  make  Thomas  Jefferson  rule  him 
out  of  the  party,  and  yet  we  know  from  the  experience  of  the  last 
twenty  years,  illuminated  by  the  experience  of  the  last  two  years, 
that  the  needs  of  the  people  compelled  even  this  supposed  apostle  of 
states  rights,  this  priest  of  the  doctrine  of  little  government,  to  ask 
these  powers  for  the  federal  administration  and  to  use  them.  He 
had  no  alternative  but  to  ask  for  price  control. 

Price  control  is  coming  by  two  methods:  one  the  legislative — 
administrative  control,  now  very  much  in  the  public  mind;  and  the 
other,  industrial  organization  which  lacks  some  of  the  dramatic 
appeal  of  the  cudgeling  of  rascals  over  the  head,  but  despite  this 
limitation  it  has  great  possibilities  as  a  real  price  reducer. 

Organization  is  a  new  concept  to  the  American,  one  that  does 
not  inhere  in  the  nature  of  democracy.  It  took  the  Germans  to 
show  us  what  organization  is.  We  now  know  the  difference  be- 
tween a  mob,  a  body  of  militia  and  an  army.  Each  is  a  group  of 
men,  but  the  militia  is  far  superior  to  the  mob.  We  have  also  found 
out  that  it  takes  the  militia  months  of  diligent  training  to  become 
an  army,  and  when  it  has  become  an  army  all  it  does  is  to  have  a 
great  group  of  men  put  certain  objects  in  certain  places  at  certain 
times.  That  description  also  happens  to  cover  the  process  of  sup- 
plying a  city  with  food;  namely,  a  great  group  of  people  putting 
certain  objects  in  certain  places  at  certain  times. 

Owing  to  the  poor  things  we  will  put  up  with  in  times  of  peace, 
we  may  justly  say  that  American  food  production  and  particularly 
American  food  distribution  are  in  the  mob  stage  rather  than  in  the 
militia  stage  of  organization.  Behold  the  distribution  of  goods  in  a 
city!  In  the  early  morning  sleep  is  disturbed  by  a  mob  of  milkmen 
traveling  one  after  the  other  through  the  same  block,  each  leaving 
his  contribution  of  bottles  on  the  different  doorsteps.  During  the 
forenoon  a  mob  of  grocer  wagons  rattles  through  the  same  street, 
their  places  to  be  taken  in  the  afternoon  by  a  similar  mob  of  de- 
partment store  delivery  wagons.     With  the  din  of  this  wasteful 


282  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

confusion  still  in  our  ears,  we  wonder  in  the  evening  why  the  cost 
of  living  is  so  high.  We  haul  food  a  thousand  or  two  thousand  miles, 
past  untilled  lands,  and  then  wonder  why  we  have  a  car  shortage 
and  why  it  all  costs  so  much,  and  why  the  quality  is  poor. 

We  have  an  industrial  organization  based  on  individualism 
and  profits  rather  than  upon  service,  and  as  socialism  looms  above 
the  horizon  the  champions  of  individualism  denounce  it.  I  am  here 
to  urge  them  to  cease  denouncing  and  construct,  and  I  am  here  to 
warn  them  that  if  thej^  do  not  construct,  the  sociahsts  will  certainly 
try  it  in  ways  which  to  the  average  individualist  are  quite  terrifying. 

The  present  Enghsh  situation  is  a  neat  compromise  between 
socialism  and  individuahsm.  They  found  that  the  price  of  ships 
was  becoming  unreasonable,  so  the  government  took  over  all  British 
ships  at  a  comparatively  low  but  profitable  rate  per  month  and 
handed  them  back  to  owners  to  operate  for  the  government.  The 
British  found  the  price  of  bread  was  becoming  unreasonable,  so  the 
government  buys  all  the  wheat,  hands  it  over  to  the  importer,  teUing 
him  he  may  make  so  much  profit  gross  on  it.  The  importer  sells  it  to 
the  miller  to  whom  the  government  grants  the  privilege  of  a  certain 
other  gross  profit,  and  so  on  down  the  line.  Thus  when  the  loaf  of 
bread  is  found  to  cost  too  much,  the  irregularity  is  traced,  and  woe  to 
the  man  who  is  found  profiteering  beyond  the  allotted  amount.  An 
English  farmer  was  fined  ;$5,500  the  other  day  for  selling  his  po- 
tatoes above  the  proper  price.  It  is  comparatively  easy  for  a 
government  to  say  to  a  wheat  importer  that  he  may  sell  wheat  at 
1  cent  or  2  cents  a  bushel  more  than  the  government  charged  him 
for  it.  That  is  industrial  control.  The  real  business,  the  indus- 
trial organization,  is  still  in  the  hands  of  the  individual  importer. 
He  hires  and  fires,  sells  and  collects,  repairs  and  sweeps  up.  The 
government  has  dodged  these  bothers  of  administration. 

I  wish  to  point  out  the  service  of  industrial  organization  as  a 
factor  in  possible  price  reduction. 

What  is  there  for  industrial  organization  to  do  in  reducing  the 
price  of  food,  and  how  can  it  be  done?  I  will  cite  the  investigations 
of  Mr.  A.  B.  Ross  in  the  Altoona  food  situation.  In  trying  to  work 
up  an  outlet  for  the  produce  of  a  nearby  county,  he  succeeded  in 
getting  a  fairly  authoritative  food  survey  for  the  city  of  Altoona 
which  revealed  the  surprising  fact  that  80  per  cent  of  the  perishable 
produce  was  hauled  fifty  miles  or  more  by  train  to  a  small  city  sit- 


Price  Control  through  Industrial  Organization     283 

uated  in  the  midst  of  undeveloped  agricultural  territory  with  a 
great  variety  of  soil  resources,  and  with  a  farming  population  sure 
that  there  was  no  market  and  that  farming  was  not  much  of  a  busi- 
ness. During  this  investigation  this  characteristic  and  instructive 
episode  was  unearthed. 

A  Bedford  County  farmer  had  hauled  a  barrel  of  apples  to  his 
station  and  shipped  it  by  train  to  Altoona.  There  it  was  put  upon 
a  dray  and  hauled  to  a  commission  merchant's  place.  After 
keeping  it  for  a  few  days  the  merchant  paid  a  price  for  it, 
hauled  it  to  the  station  and  shipped  it  to  Pittsburgh.  It  was  again 
put  on  a  dray,  taken  to  a  commission  house,  again  sold  and  again 
hauled  back  to  the  station,  put  on  a  train  and  shipped  back  to 
Altoona,  carted  to  a  commission  merchant's  store,  sold  to  a  retail 
grocer,  who  hauled  it  to  his  store,  broke  it  open  and  delivered  the 
contents  in  many  small  lots  to  his  customers.  Four  sales,  six 
cartings,  three  railroad  journeys,  and  all  on  one  barrel  of  apples — 
not  very  good  apples  either. 

It  is  not  unnatural  that  the  farmer  who  shipped  that  barrel 
is  inclined  to  think  evil  thoughts  of  middlemen  and  railroads,  yet  it 
was  not  necessarily  the  fault  of  any  one  of  them,  but  the  fault  of  a 
very  vicious  system  that  dates  back  to  the  day  of  hoop  skirts  and 
negro  slavery.  This  inland  town  of  Altoona  with  58,000  people, 
mostly  artisans,  with  80  per  cent  of  its  perishable  goods  coming  by 
train,  often  long  distances,  is  supplied  chiefly  with  stale  and  therefore 
tasteless,  unappetizing  and  partially  inedible  vegetables.  This 
fact,  which  is  typical  not  only  of  the  small  town,  but  also  of  the 
great  city,  helps  to  explain  why  the  way  of  the  vegetarian  is  hard. 
Go  to  a  restaurant  and  order  a  few  meals,  and  you  will  find  that 
about  the  only  things  you  can  eat  are  bread  and  meat.  The  pov- 
erty of  our  vegetable  supply  and  its  poor  quality,  explain  why  this 
nation  finds  it  so  hard  to  give  up  the  meat  diet,  even  though  at  the 
present  time  the  prices  are  past  anything  in  our  record  and  with  no 
permanent  relief  in  sight.  It  is  indeed  unfortunate  that  there  is  no 
immediate  or  ultimate  prospect  of  any  substantial  increase  in  the 
meat  supply,  but  the  economic  facts  of  the  country  have  so  decreed. 
It  is  easy  to  prove  that  between  eight-tenths  and  nine-tenths  of  the 
American  farm  produce  goes  to  feed  the  beasts.  Our  agricultural 
area  is  nearly  static,  the  population  and  the  demand  for  meat  are 
increasing,  and  few  people  think  that  even  all  the  authority  of  the 


284  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

war  food  administration  can  materially  affect  the  price  of  meat. 
It  is  exceedingly  suggestive  to  note  the  first  great  service  of  the  food 
administration — the  case  of  bread.  This  great  act  was  to  guaran- 
tee the  farmers  that  the  price  of  wheat  shall  be  high — $2.00  a  bushel 
next  year. 

With  a  large  and  increasing  population  and  a  consequently 
large  and  increasing  demand  for  food,  with  the  high  price  of  bread 
and  the  high  and  increasing  price  of  meat,  we  are  compelled  to  seek 
the  vegetable  diet.  Fortunately  the  possibilities  of  vegetable  pro- 
duction, unlike  those  of  meat  or  of  wheat,  are  indefinite  in  extent. 
The  yield  of  these  plants  is  heavy,  and  we  eat  the  product  ourselves 
rather  than  feed  it  to  our  beasts,  so  that  a  small  acreage  suffices. 
We  could  raise  five  times  as  many  potatoes  without  materially  affect- 
ing the  area  for  the  production  of  any  other  crop.  As  to  peas,  beans, 
cabbages,  beets,  and  all  the  rest,  there  is  a  possibility  of  many  fold 
multiplication  of  output.  The  bane  of  truck  growing  is  agricultural 
overproduction.  The  fear  of  the  truck  farmer  is  the  glutted  market. 
There  is  scarcely  a  year  goes  by  that  the  farmers  of  New  Jersey  do 
not  leave  peas  unpicked  in  the  field  and  plow  under  beans,  while  in 
the  aggregate  the  annual  waste  of  vegetables  in  this  country  would 
almost  feed  a  second-rate  European  power.  That  waste  goes  on 
even  this  year.  The  orchardist  fears  to  extend  his  plantings  for 
fear  he  cannot  find  purchasers  for  his  fruit.  Even  in  this  year  of 
scarcity,  cabbages  day  after  day  have  sold  for  less  than  cost  in  the 
markets  of  Philadelphia,  despite  the  free  advertising  of  the  local 
food  commission,  and  fruit  has  rotted  on  the  ground.  With  all 
this  scarcity  of  meat  and  possible  abundance  of  vegetable  food,  the 
average  small  town  is  poorly  supplied  with  stale  and  unattractive 
vegetables.     Here  is  a  field  for  some  industrial  organization. 

Now  note  the  picture  of  what  might  be.  There  is  no  reason 
whatever  either  in  scientific  knowledge,  in  the  physical  conditions  of 
production,  or  the  facilities  for  shipment,  why  we  might  not  have  in 
every  town  that  is  a  local  market  some  kind  of  an  organization  to 
render  the  following  service:  (1)  estabfish  standard  varieties  of 
market  vegetables  to  be  grown  in  that  locality,  so  that  in  that  mar- 
ket town  packages  of  beans,  peas  or  cabbage  could  be  made  stand- 
ard packages,  but  made  up  if  need  be  by  the  contributions  of  a 
dozen  farmers.  In  Denmark,  probably  the  world  leader  in  rural 
organization,  their  famous  bacon  is  grown  on  a  standardized  pig. 


Price  Control  through  Industrial  Organization     285 

This  marvelous  animal  is  a  certain  cross  of  breeds  being  grown  by 
thousands  of  farmers,  fed  in  approximately  the  same  way,  slaughtered 
at  the  uniform  size  of  maximum  efficiency  for  food  consumption, 
cut  up  and  cured  in  the  prescribed  way  so  that  a  piece  of  Danish 
bacon  is  a  piece  of  Danish  bacon,  and  you  can  buy  it  with  your 
eyes  shut.  Similarly  the  Countrj^side  standardizing  plant  of  the 
United  States  should  be  able  to  pack  the  produce  of  a  hundred 
gardens  from  a  hundred  nearby  farms  or  backyards,  freely  com- 
mingling them  if  need  be,  and  put  up  standardized  packages  of 
peas,  beans  and  beets  of  the  same  variety,  picked  in  the  same 
degree  of  ripeness  and  thus  acceptable  in  any  market  to  which  they 
could  be  easily  sent.  This  standardizing  house  with  its  standard- 
ized package  is  merely  a  copy  of  what  has  been  done  for  years  in 
California,  to  the  great  success  of  orange  growers  and  the  great 
increase  in  the  consumption  of  that  wholesome  fruit. 

From  this  standardized  packing  plant  all  the  stores  of  the  town 
of  Countryside  and  all  housekeepers  who  wanted  a  whole  package 
would  be  supplied  with  the'  freshest  of  good  produce.  If  a  surplus 
remained  it  could  be  shipped  to  nearby  markets.  If  other  markets 
were  not  available,  as  at  times  they  are  not,  an  adjunct  to  the 
standardizing  plant  should  be  canning  equipment  and  drying  equip- 
ment, so  that  no  food  should  be  wasted.  Thus  the  inhabitants  of 
the  borough  could  be  supplied  through  the  winter  from  their  own 
good  fresh  produce,  prepared  in  their  own  local  plant  by  the  most 
scientific  and  hygienic  methods  and  no  freight  to  pay.  Anj'-  sur- 
plus thus  preserved  in  excess  of  local  needs  could  be  marketed  at 
the  world's  leisure.  We  should  have  5,000  little  towns  each  thus 
fed  with  good  fresh,  home-made  vegetable  food  from  its  own  local 
plant.  It  would  eliminate  the  waste  of  vegetables  so  common  in 
farmers'  gardens,  for  the  farmer  is  not  in  a  position  to  handle  small 
surpluses.  It  would  eliminate  waste  of  labor  by  greatly  reducing 
railroad  freightage,  it  would  reduce  waste  of  work  and  lumber  by 
saving  the  making  of  thousands  of  packages.  It  would  reduce 
waste  of  labor  and  money,  for  middlemen's  work  and  profits  would 
not  need  to  be  paid.  It  would  reduce  the  price  of  meat,  because 
people  would  have  more  abundant  and  satisfying  supplies  of  sub- 
stitute foods.  By  giving  to  the  farmers  around  every  population 
center  the  local  market  for  twelve  months  in  a  year,  it  would 
aid  greatly  in  the  intensification  of  our  agriculture  and  in  its  fine 


286  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

adjustment  to  need.  We  are  at  the  present  time  a  nation  that  is 
freight  car  crazy.  We  are  also  crazed  by  freight  car  shortage. 
Next  year  it  will  be  worse.  Here  is  a  way  out.  Such  a  point-of- 
origin  standardized  plant  would  give  the  small  town  its  natural 
and  proper  advantage  of  a  lower  cost  of  living  than  any  great  city 
could  rival. 

The  second  part  of  this  plan  is  an  efficient  and  honest  informa- 
tion service  which  will  enable  both  shippers  and  purchasers  to  know 
the  supplies  and  demands.  At  the  present  time  we  have  a  perfect 
chaos  of  effort  in  seeking  information  concerning  markets,  and  also 
a  chaos  in  the  supply  of  markets,  so  that  one  market  is  glutted,  with 
the  result  of  disappointed  farmers,  while  another  reasonably  nearby 
market  is  starved,  with  the  result  of  equally  disappointed  would-be 
purchasers.  For  example,  this  summer  good  peaches  sold  at  from 
40  to  60  cents  a  basket  near  Bordentown,  N.  J.,  while  at  the  same 
time  similar  fruit  was  bringing  $2.00  a  basket  in  north  Jersey 
towns  suburban  to  New  York.  A  proper  information  service  would 
have  had  the  cheap  peaches  in  the  high-priced  market,  with  the 
result  that  prices  would  have  been  somewhat  higher  for  suppliers 
and  somewhat  lower  for  purchasers;  all  parties  would  have  been 
satisfied,  consumption  would  have  been  increased  and  likewise  pro- 
duction. It  may  be  of  interest  to  know  that  an  attempt  to  estab- 
lish such  an  information  system  in  one  of  our  largest  eastern  states 
was  killed  by  commission  men,  although  it  is  probably  easy  to  show 
that  it  would  have  been  to  their  advantage. 

I  do  not  wish  to  claim  originality  for  these  plans.  They  were 
worked  out  by  Mr.  A.  B.  Ross,  now  with  the  Pennsylvania  Pubhc 
Safety  Committee,  in  the  process  of  his  attempts  to  solve  some  very 
distressing  conditions  of  badly  fed  towns  and  poverty  stricken 
farmers  hardby.  Why  do  we  not  have  it?  There  are  four  reasons: 
(1)  the  American  farmer  lives  in  a  mental  burrow  and  is  the  fiercest 
of  individualists,  while  the  plan  that  1  have  described  necessitates 
that  men  shall  cooperate;  (2)  the  American  townsman,  despite  the 
fact  that  he  eats  three  times  a  daj^  thinks  food  supply  is  the 
farmer's  problem,  when  really  it  is  a  town  problem  and  he  is 
about  as  set  an  individualist  as  the  farmer;  (3)  the  United  States 
Department  of  Agriculture,  for  reasons  defended  by  any  social 
economist,  thus  far  does  not  take  hold  of  such  work;  (4)  most  of  our 
state  departments  of  agriculture  and  our  state  colleges  and  agricul- 
tural extension  service  are  equally  shy  of  this  constructive  work. 


Price  Control  through  Industrial  Organization     287 

Perhaps  the  shyness  of  state  and  national  government  could  be 
explained  if  we  could  read  the  full  history  of  lobbying  and  appropria- 
tions. Put  yourself  in  the  position  of  a  bureau  chief  whose  work 
depended  on  appropriations,  and  it  is  easy  to  see  why  he  should 
hesitate  to  start  things  that  would  get  all  the  middlemen  of  the 
country  out  to  kill  his  appropriations.  Meanwhile  the  need  accumu- 
lates, and  we  have  an  unexampled  opportunity  in  the  present  need 
and  the  unusually  widespread  desire  to  be  of  service.  Here  is  a 
possible  good  result  of  the  war. 

This  war  is  a  terrible  thing,  but,  like  most  misfortunes,  it  too  may 
have  a  silver  lining.  The  wo^-Id  is  getting  new  concepts  of  public 
necessity  and  the  way  to  meet  it.  If  stvles  are  not  right,  we  change 
them.  Not  long  ago  someone  had  the  notion  that  the  ladies  would 
look  better  with  large,  wide-flowing  skirts,  but  suddenly  a  person  in 
Washington,  a  person  of  thought,  saw  that  this  was  going  to  cause 
world  suffering  from  a  wool  famine.  A  brief  international  inter- 
view took  place,  and  behold  the  lady  is  to  look  different.  Her  skirt 
is  to  continue  short,  and  be  exceedingly  narrow,  using  little  wool. 
Does  steel  go  to  make  fences  for  game  preserves,  to  make  the  skele- 
tons of  more  hotels  at  pleasure  resorts,  to  make  limousines  for  the 
parkway?  In  England  the  answer  is  emphatically  "no."  The 
nation  needs  steel  for  three  things :  munitions,  warships,  merchant 
ships.  No  one  else  can  have  a  pound  unless  he  proves  his  need  to 
the  Ministry  of  Munitions  which  has  control  of  the  steel  industry. 
We  will  be  shortly  in  the  same  position  if  we  do  our  part.  Does  a 
young  man  do  as  he  pleases,  go  to  college,  play  golf,  take  a  job, 
marry  a  wife?  No,  it  is  decreed  that  the  nation  needs  him  in  the 
army,  and  to  the  army  we  send  him.  When  this  war  is  over  we  are 
not  going  to  lapse  back  to  individual  chaos.  Instead  of  this  the  con- 
cept of  public  need  and  the  utilization  of  a  nation's  resources  to 
meet  it  will  be  applied  as  never  before.  One  of  the  ways  will  be  the 
development  of  rural  market  organizations  which  will  give  us  cheap 
and  abundant  suppHes  of  vegetable  foods,  a  class  of  production  that 
even  our  food  administration  in  war  times  scarcely  thinks  it  is 
possible  to  affect  with  all  the  authority  at  its  command.  It  can 
only  urge  individual  action. 

The  bringing  of  such  market  organizations  to  pass  this  winter 
in  preparation  for  next  year's  business  is  the  peculiar  opportunity  of 
Public  Safety  Committees  and  other  voluntary  war  service  organi- 
zations. 


288  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


PRICE   CONTROL 

By  Joseph  E.  Davies, 
Federal  Trade  Commission. 

Prices  all  over  the  world  during  this  war  have  risen,  and  very 
rapidly.  This  is  not  a  local  phenomenon  or  manifestation.  It  is 
world-wide.  The  price  of  coal  in  Norway,  the  price  of  foodstuffs  in 
Italy,  the  price  of  silver  in  China,  the  prices  of  all  commodities  the 
world  over  have  appreciably  increased.  One  of  the  fundamental 
reasons,  perhaps,  for  this  increase  in  prices  is  found  in  the  fact  that 
the  measuring  standard  of  value — money — has  greatly  increased 
in  volume.  Nations  have  been  obliged  to  issue  large  volumes  of 
paper  money.  Credits  have  taken  the  place  of  money  to  an  ap- 
preciable extent.  The  inevitable  consequence  is  an  increase  in  the 
prices  of  commodities  whose  value  they  measure. 

There  are  additional  reasons  for  increases  in  prices.  There  have 
come  great  and  abnormal  demands  for  certain  commodities.  The 
great  war  has  consumed  enormous  quantities  of  materials  in  its 
processes  of  destruction  which  heretofore  were  not  demanded  for 
that  particular  use,  or  lack  of  use,  but  which  were  used  in  the  ordi- 
nary processes  of  industry  and  trade.  The  demand  for  baJc  com- 
modities has  greatly  inci  eased.  With  reference  to  a  great  many 
commodities  there  are  physical  limitations  in  increasiilg  production. 
It  takes  a  year  and  a  half  to  build  a  paper  mill  or  twelve  months  to 
build  a  steel  mill.  The  increase  in  the  supply  has  not  kept  pace 
with  the  increase  in  demand.     Prices  register  this  condition. 

Thirty  million  men,  or  more,  have  been  taken  away  from  pro- 
duction and  have  been  engaged  in  the  destruction  of  property. 
Not  only  have  the  sources  of  supply  been  curtailed,  but  the  available 
supply  has  been  consumed  in  non-productive  forces.  Under  such 
conditions  it  is  inevitable  that  prices  should  rise. 

Whenever  in  the  history  of  the  world  such  a  situation  has  come, 
men  organized  into  communities  or  governments  have  tried  to 
pi  event  the  hardship  that  accrues.  Governments  cannot  prevent 
the  workings  of  economic  laws,  but  government  seeks  to  prevent 
the  cupidity  of  men  from  taking  an  exorbitant  profit  out  of  com- 
modities whose  value  has  increased  entirely  because  of  abnormal  condi- 
tions.    With  the  supply  limited,  governments  have  sought  to  pre- 


Price  Control  289 

scribe  how  that  supply  shall  be  distributed,  and  at  prices  which  are 
based  upon  costs  and  upon  such  fair  values  as  obtained  before  the 
rise  of  unusual  and  abnormal  conditions. 

The  earliest  instance  of  price  fixing  historically,  I  presume,  was 
biblical.  The  Emperor  Diocletian  in  Rome,  three  hundred  years 
after  Christ,  tried  to  fix  the  prices  of  various  commodities  and  the 
prices  of  labor.  Sixty  years  afterwards  the  Emperor  Julian  tried  the 
same  thing.  During  the  French  Revolution  the  English  fleet 
blockaded  France,  foodstuffs  fell  off  in  production,  there  was  a  great 
demand  for  food,  prices  went  up  and  the  French  government  at- 
tempted at  that  time  to  establish  fixed  prices  and  fixed  the  law  of  the . 
maximum  which,  after  a  very  brief  trial,  was  suspended  in  its 
operation. 

Recently,  Germany  has  made  the  most  elaborate  and  intensive 
effort  to  control  prices.  The  results  we  will  not  know  with  definite- 
ness  until  the  conclusion  of  the  war.  France  followed;  English 
colonies  early  embarked  upon  the  plan;  England  itself  was  the  last 
to  attempt  it.  We  are  now  embarking  upon  a  similar  effort.  In 
fact,  there  isn't  a  neutral  or  warring  nation  in  the  world  that  has  a 
conscious,  deliberate  intent  to  serve  the  interests  of  its  people  but 
that  is  addressing  itself  to  this  problem  and  trying  to  control  price. 

Economists  have  always  maintained  that  this  was  impossible; 
that  it  was  unsound  to  attempt  it;  and  that  it  was  foredoomed  to 
failure.  It  is  characteristic  of  man  that  in  the  process  of  his  evolu- 
tion he  will  not  admit  that  failure  is  foreordained  where  the  general 
welfare  of  society  is  concerned,  and  it  remains  to  be  seen  whether  un- 
der present  conditions  as  to  production,  transportation  and  distribu- 
tion, with  modern  intelligence,  this  situation  can  be  successfully 
worked  out. 

Our  present  situation  is  briefly  this:  legislation  has  been  passed 
looking  to  fixing  prices  for  government  purchase  generally  and  look- 
ing to  the  fixing  of  prices  for  the  public  as  to  food  and  fuel.  The 
National  Defense  Act  and  the  Naval  Appropriation  Act  gives  the 
Piesident  of  the  United  States  power  to  fix  the  price  at  which  mate- 
rials shall  be  taken  for  the  use  of  the  government.  It  is  maintained 
that  this  power  applies  only  to  the  purchase  of  those  commodities 
which  are  used  directly  in  military  activities  for  ourselves  or  for  our 
allies,  steel  for  warships  or  projectile  steel  for  shells,  or  lumber  or 
coal  for  ships. 


290  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

There  are  others  who  maintain  that  under  this  power  the  Presi- 
dent might  extend  this  to  the  possible  fixing  of  all  prices  for  the  use  of 
the  general  public. 

The  only  specific  legislative  authority  to  fix  prices  for  the  public 
thus  far,  however,  is  found  in  the  so-called  Lever  Act  which  has  to  do 
with  food,  fuel  and  agricultural  implements.  Senator  Pomerene  has 
introduced  a  resolution  which  is  now  before  the  Senate  and  which 
aims  to  bring  about  the  same  control  over  the  price  of  steel  and  other 
commodities  as  obtains  over  the  price  of  fuel  and  food.  With  the 
government  of  the  United  States — a  large  purchaser — taking  out  of 
the  lumber  and  steel  markets  or  any  of  the  basic  markets  a  large 
quantity  of  material  for  war  purposes,  there  follows  a  manifest 
effect  upon  prices.  The  available  supply  for  the  business  and  com- 
mercial uses  of  the  country  is  that  much  diminished.  In  a  market 
already  hectic  with  demand  the  introduction  of  such  an  additional 
large  buying  factor  forces  prices  still  higher. 

Prices  in  the  market  at  the  present  time  are,  generally  speaking, 
not  dependent  upon  the  cost  of  production,  but  are  dependent  upon 
the  degree  of  men's  needs  and  the  competitive  bidding  they  engage 
in  to  get  the  materials. 

The  Federal  Trade  Commission  has  been  engaged  for  the  past 
eighteen  months  with  a  large  corps  of  accountants  and  investigators 
in  ascertaining  the  facts  as  to  costs  of  production  of  many  of  the 
basic  commodities,  such  as  steel,  cement,  aluminum,  petroleum,  fuel, 
oil,  news-print  paper  and  a  great  variety  of  similar  commodities. 

This  was  upon  the  direction  of  the  President  of  the  United 
States  who,  with  characteristic  foresight,  concluded  that  it  would 
be  necessary  for  him  and  other  government  agencies  to  have  accurate 
information  of  a  definite,  scientific  character  as  to  what  the  exact 
costs  of  production  were,  so  that  when  the  price  was  named,  if  it 
were  to  be  named,  it  would  be  determined  not  upon  hearsay,  not 
perhaps  upon  the  self-serving  declarations  of  those  who  were  engaged 
in  that  business,  but  upon  the  facts  which  had  been  determined  by  a 
government  agency  which  had  no  purpose  other  than  the  disinter- 
ested one  of  serving  the  public. 

One  of  the  chief  difficulties  attendant  upon  any  plan  of  price 
control  is  the  varying  costs  of  production.  The  outstanding  fact  in 
all  industrial  production  appears  to  be  quite  generally  that  the  low 
cost,  highly  efficient,  highly  integrated  plant  can  sell  and  make  a 


Price  Control  291 

profit  at  a  price  where  the  high  cost,  inefficient  plant  can't  even 
produce  the  commodity. 

The  importance  of  that  fact  looms  large  when  it  is  realized 
that  production  is  equally  important  with  price.  The  prices  of 
commodities  affect  our  immediate  comfort  and  well-being.  The 
question  of  whether  we  win  this  war  or  not  affects  living  conditions 
for  the  long  future,  and  equally  vital  therefore  with  present  com^ 
fort  in  the  matter  of  low  prices  and  perhaps  more  vital,  is  the  ques- 
tion of  getting  the  material  out  and  the  fixing  of  a  price  that  will 
bring  the  production.  Materials  are  necessary  to  win  the  war. 
The  price  must  be  sufficiently  high  in  order  to  get  the  material. 
Men  will  not  voluntarily  produce  unless  they  make  a  profit. 

The  problem  is  then,  briefly,  to  fix  a  price  based  upon  the  cost 
of  production  that  will  give  a  fair  return  in  profit  and  will  at  the 
same  time  not  starve  production. 

In  official  circles  the  methods  of  price  fixing  most  discussed 
have  been  two.  One,  that  a  flat  price  be  fixed,  and  that  it  be  made 
such  that  it  will  enable  the  high  cost  producer  to  sell  with  a  profit 
and  at  the  same  time  insure  a  large  proportion  of  the  total  produc- 
tion. The  merit  of  this  suggestion  lies  in  its  simplicity.  It  is  put 
into  effect  by  the  mere  declaration  of  the  price.  Its  disadvantage 
lies  in  the  fact  that  any  such  price  so  fixed  will  afford  to  the  low  cost 
producer  a  large  profit,  whereas  the  high  cost  producer  will  make  a 
much  less  profit,  and  unless  the  price  fixed  is  at  a  point  so  high  that 
the  least  efficient  can  produce,  some  production  will  be  curtailed. 
In  England,  steel  prices  have  been  fixed  by  this  method  for  a  large 
variety  of  steel  products.  Generally  speaking,  these  prices  as  fixed 
were  material  reductions  and  are  now  about  one-half  in  price  of 
prevailing  market  prices  for  similar  commodities  in  this  country. 
The  plan  has  been  made  effective  by  a  system  of  licensing. 

The  other  plan  that  has  been  discussed  is  that  of  the  pool. 
It  would  contemplate  the  purchase  of  all  production  at  varying 
prices,  giving  approximately  the  same  percentage  of  profit  to  all 
producers  and  the  resale  of  the  commodity  at  a  fixed  price  which 
would  be  based  upon  the  average  of  all  the  costs.  It  would  con- 
template giving  a  larger  percentage  of  profit  to  the  efficient  than  to 
the  inefficient,  in  order  to  stimulate  efficiency.  The  merit  of  this 
plan  lies  in  the  fact  that  it  would  give  the  same  profit  to  all  and  that 
it  would  insure  the  entire  production  because  all  producers  would 


292  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

be  getting  a  margin  of  profit.  The  principal  objection  to  the  plan, 
and  it  is  a  serious  objection,  would  be  the  difficulty  of  administration. 
It  would  require  extensive  administrative  machinery  and  the  closest 
coordination  between  such  administration  and  the  industry  in- 
volved. With  the  outbreak  of  the  war,  England  bought  large  quan- 
tities of  sugar  in  the  markets  of  the  world,  resold  it  to  the  consumer 
in  England  at  a  fixed  price  and  assured  that  price  through  its  con- 
trol over  distribution.  Since  that  time  a  joint  commission  of  Eng- 
land, France  and  Italy  buys  sugar  and  resells  the  same  on  a  similar 
plan. 

Up  to  this  time  materials  have  been  purchased  by  the  army  and 
the  navy  at  tentative  prices  fixed  by  the  President  and  subject 
to  determinations  as  to  the  ultimate  price  upon  cost  investigations 
conducted  by  the  Federal  Trade  Commission  under  the  direction  of 
the  President.  As  to  prices  for  the  public,  the  President  fixed  the 
price  of  coal  on  the  twenty-first  day  of  August  for  the  various  dis- 
tricts, and  the  administration  of  the  situation  is  now  under  the 
able  control  of  Dr.  Garfield,  the  fuel  administrator. 

Upon  the  cost  data  which  the  Federal  Trade  Commission  has 
procured  and  which  has  been  submitted  to  the  President,  the  War 
Industries  Purchasing  Board,  with  the  approval  of  the  President, 
has  fixed  a  flat  price  for  copper  and  has  secured  assurances  from  the 
industry  that  wages  would  not  be  reduced  and  that  the  price  thus 
secured  for  government  purchase  would  be  projected  and  sustained 
for  the  general  public.  It  is  highly  probable  that  a  similar  action 
will  develop  with  reference  to  steel  products. 

It  is  probable  that  the  general  development  as  to  price  fixing 
by  the  government  will  at  the  outset  follow  the  line  of  fixing  a  flat 
price,  rather  than  by  attempting  to  control  price  through  pool  ar- 
rangements. It  is  the  moderate  course  and  will  naturally  commend 
itself  to  government  because  of  its  simplicity.  Any  weaknesses 
which  the  situation  may  have  within  it  will  be  developed  and  the 
processes  of  further  control  will  be  those  of  evolution  through  ex- 
perience, rather  than  an  immediate  attempt  to  project  a  very  large 
administrative  machinery  in  a  new  field  of  effort. 

Whether  prices  made  for  government  purchase  can  be  made 
effective  for  the  general  public  by  agreement  between  those  in  the 
industry  and  government  officials  without  specific  legislative  author- 
ity to  enforce  such  prices,  remains  to  be  seen.     In  spite  of  the  dili- 


Price  Control  293 

gence  and  perfect  good  faith  of  those  who  have  pledged  their  effoit 
to  preserve  fair  prices  for  the  pubhc,  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  condi- 
tion of  the  market  is  such  that  the  greatest  of  pressure  will  be  ex- 
ercised to  find  ways  and  means  of  getting  the  commodity  irrespective 
of  price  after  it  has  left  the  control  of  the  original  producer.  Of  the 
good  faith  of  those  engaging  to  preserve  these  prices  for  the  public 
there  may  be  no  doubt;  of  their  capacity  to  project  and  preserve  for 
any  length  of  time  uniform  fair  prices  for  the  general  public,  there  is 
room  for  doubt.  It  will  undoubtedly  be  aided  by  the  administra- 
tion of  priority  under  the  direction  of  the  very  able  priority  adminis- 
tration which  has  been  created. 


BOOK  DEPARTMENT 

THE   BUSINESS   MAN'S  LIBRARY 

Accounting,  Auditing  and  Cost  Keeping 

Church,  A.  Hamilton.     Manufacturing  Costs    and  Accounts.     Pp.    viii,     452. 

Price,  $5.00.     New  York:  McGraw-Hill  Book  Company,  1917. 

In  this  scholarly  and  complete  treatise  Mr.  Church  has  set  forth  most  of  the 
fundamentals  of  cost  accounting,  and  has  given  a  complete  outline  of  his  well- 
known  supplementary  rate  method  of  distributing  overhead  expense.  The  book 
is  divided  into  three  parts:  part  one  is  devoted  to  a  general  outline  of  manufactur- 
ing accounts;  part  two  describes  the  mechanism  of  cost  accounting,  while  part 
three  treats  of  factory  reports  and  returns,  embracing  reports  for  foremen,  superin- 
tendents and  executives. 

The  author  has  reduced  all  cost  methods  to  three  which  he  calls  A,  B,  and  C, 
respectively.  He  points  out  that  method  A  will  give  accurate  results  if  wages  are 
imiform  throughout  the  shop,  and  method  B  will  take  its  place  if  wages  or  earnings 
per  hour  are  not  uniform.  Method  C  is  based  upon  the  author's  theory  that 
departmentalization  is  the  key  to  accuracy  in  cost  accounting,  and  that  the  partic- 
ular merit  of  method  C  lies  in  the  fact  that  it  carries  the  principle  of  departmental- 
ization as  far  as  the  production  centers  themselves,  i.e.  to  the  ultimate  limit  pos- 
sible. 

Some  question  may  be  raised  as  to  the  wisdom  of  attempting  to  teach  or 
explain  the  theory  of  double  entry  bookkeeping  in  the  small  amount  of  space 
allotted  to  this  subject  by  the  author  in  part  one.  In  these  days  when  the  iac- 
covmting  profession  is  trying  to  establish  a  satisfactory  terminology  it  is  decidedly . 
confusing  to  the  average  student  to  encounter  the  distinctions  that  the  author 
makes  between  journals  and  books  of  original  entry.  One  cannot  but  feel  that  it 
would  have  been  better  had  the  author  adhered  to  modern  accounting  practice, 
insofar  as  it  has  been  standardized,  for  the  illustrations  he  uses  to  describe  his  cash 
journal. 

The  author  comes  in  variance  with  the  usual  accounting  practice  in  his  treat- 
ment of  the  division  of  administration  expense  and  the  deduction  of  depreciation 
from  the  asset  instead  of  creating  reserve  accounts.  In  his  chapter  on  the  inclusion 
of  interest  in  cost,  the  author  has  establi.slied  himself  in  favor  of  including  interest 
and  has  outlined  methods  for  treating  interest  as  an  element  of  cost  in  what  he 
terms  ordinary  and  "hard  times." 

The  book  is  a  notable  addition  to  a  library  on  cost  accounting,  and  to  the 
student  who  is  well  grounded  in  the  basic  principles  of  accounting  it  will  prove  of 
considerable  value  in  treating  of  cost  accounts. 

A.  T.  Cameron. 
University  of  Pennsylvania. 

294 


Book  Department  295 

Advertising  and  Salesmanship 

Farrar,  Gilbert  P.     Typography  of  Advertisements  that  Pay.     Pp.  xvi,  282. 

Price,  $2.25.     New  York:  D.  Appleton  and  Company,  1917. 

Mr.  Farrar's  book  is  admirably  adapted  to  classroom  work  because  of  its  good 
arrangement,  well-chosen  illustrations,  and  its  simple  manner  of  presenting  tech- 
nical material.  The  book  is  prepared  on  the  justified  assumption  that  advertisers 
should  know  clearly  certain  technicalities  of  printing,  but,  at  the  same  time,  that 
they  should  not  burden  themselves  with  too  much  detail.  In  accordance  with 
this  theory,  the  author  sets  forth  in  an  effective  way  the  few  families  of  tjrpes  that 
are  in  common  use.  He  shows  how  different  combinations  of  type  faces  can  be 
made  for  the  best  results.  A  peculiar  virtue  of  the  book  is  that  these  type  faces 
are  placed  in  close  relationship  to  the  advertisements  that  employ  them.  An  ex- 
cellent chapter  is  that  entitled  Putting  the  Advertisement  Together.  It  shows 
at  a  glance  how  an  advertisement  is  prepared  for  the  printer.  The  chapter  on 
Making  the  Message  Quick  and  Sure  is  a  most  excellent  treatment  of  the  em- 
ployment of  types  for  the  essential  purpose  of  making  clear  what  you  have  to  say. 
Other  valuable  chapters  in  the  book  treat  of  combining  pictures  and  type  faces, 
borders,  the  field  of  hand  lettering,  white  space  and  margins,  adding  life  to  package 
display,  and  the  kinds  of  advertisements,  the  last  named  chapter  being  an  illumi- 
nating classification  of  advertisements  which  cannot  fail  to  be  of  service  even  to 
experienced  advertisers.  Many  other  books  on  the  typography  of  advertisements 
have  been  written,  but  for  simplicity  of  treatment  and  arrangement  and  for 
presentation  of  the  essentials  in  typography  this  book  fills  a  needed  place. 

J.    W.   PXERCY. 

Indiana  University. 

Government  Regulation  op  Business 

Montague,   Gilbert  H.     Business  Competition  and  the  Law.    Pp.  vii,   318. 

Price,  $1.75.     New  York:  G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons,  1917. 
Stevens,  W.  H.  S.     Unfair  Competition.     Pp.  xiii,  265.     Price,  $1.50.     Chicago: 

University  of  Chicago  Press,  1917. 

A  mere  mention  of  the  trust  problem,  and  more  particularly  the  Sherman  and 
Clayton  Acts,  at  once  is  likely  to  engage  the  interest  of  a  business  man.  It  is 
quite  superfluous,  therefore,  to  bemoan  a  lagging  interest  in  the  subject  matter  of 
these  two  books.  On  the  other  hand,  both  works  contain  the  elements  of  in- 
spiriting essays.  They  are  phrased  in  a  colloquial  style  and  their  manner  of  ex- 
pression is  simple  and  natural.  What  is  more  noteworthy,  they  represent  lucid 
treatments  of  subjects  of  which  their  authors  have  an  intimate  technical  knowledge. 

The  attitude  of  the  authors  toward  the  problems  of  current  industrial  and 
commercial  practices  is  different.  Montague  has  a  proclivity  to  maintain  the 
right  of  a  business  to  live  without  too  much  molestation  on  the  part  of  the  courts. 
At  the  same  time  he  suggests  the  legal  pitfalls  into  which  a  business  may  un- 
wittingly step,  and  thereby  bring  upon  itself  an  unpleasant  acquaintanceship  with 
the  Federal  District  Attorney's  staff.  The  substance  of  Montague's  thought  is 
developed  by  relatively  brief  passages  of  his  own  pen,  coupled  with  rather  elabo- 


296  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

rate  quotations  of  actual  decisions  rendered  by  the  courts.  It  is  the  somewhat 
too  numerous  citations  from  these  decisions  that  make  his  work  a  trifle  monoto- 
nous at  times,  and  yet,  unfortunately,  no  means  has  been  devised  by  lawyers  for 
satisfactorilj'  paraphrasing  the  law.  Stevens  reasons  from  the  standpoint  of 
economic  justice.  Once  having  propoimded  the  "competition  theory  of  monop- 
oly," the  justice  of  competitive  business  practices  are  resolved  according  to  the 
rule  that  the  "final  test  of  the  fairness  of  a  given  method  should  be  whether  or  not 
it  restricts  actually,  or  potentially,  the  normal  operation  of  the  law  with  the  result- 
ing survival  of  efficiency. " 

In  substance  what  Stevens  terms  the  "competition  theory  of  monopoly"  is 
based  upon  the  principle  that  competition  is  fair  and  just  so  long  as  society  accepts 
and  countenances  it.  "The  interests  of  society  lie  in  the  highest  possible  utility 
at  the  lowest  possible  cost.  .  ;  .  To  secure  this  result  it  is  necessary  that 
efficient  units  of  organization  shall  be  preserved ;  and  it  is  equally  desirable  that 
inefficient  units  shall  be  destroyed.  In  other  words,  an  organization  is  entitled 
to  remain  in  busine.ss  so  long  as  its  production  and  selling  costs  enable  it  to 
compete  in  a  free  and  open  market.  As  the  productive  and  selling  efficiency  of 
one  or  more  competing  concerns  in  any  line  of  business  increases  beyond  that  of 
others,  the  price  of  the  goods  sold  tends  correspondingly  to  decline.  The  more 
efficient  organizations  reduce  the  price  in  an  endeavor  to  increase  their  volume  of 
sales,  expecting  more  than  to  compensate  for  the  decreased  profit  per  unit  by  the 
larger  number  of  units  sold.  Generally,  marginal  concerns  will  gradually  lose  their 
market.  Ultimately,  if  imable  to  reduce  or  hold  their  costs  below  the  market 
price,  they  will  be  compelled  to  discontinue  business. " 

It  is  patent  that  Stevens  is  not  a  proponent  of  large  industrial  combinations 
simply  because  they  are  large,  and  he  carries  the  convictions  of  one  who  has  investi- 
gated carefully  the  methods  by  which,  fortunately  or  unfortunately,  big  business 
has  grown.  The  logical  soundness  of  some  of  his  assertions  is  tinged  by  a  super- 
vigilant  search  for  recondite  motives  on  the  part  of  business;  but  he  is  not  unfair. 

In  short,  Montague's  work  illuminates  the. path  of  legal  safety  for  business 
in  a  semi-legal  fashion,  while  Stevens  explains  in  a  practical  popular  way  the 
means,  and  the  results  thereof,  pursued  by  monopoUstic  combines.  Each  book  is 
complimentary  to  the  other,  and  both  are  deserving  of  the  shelf  of  the  business 
man's  library. 


Frank  Parker. 


University  of  Pennsylvania. 


Insurance 


Gephart,  W.  F.     Principles  of  Insurance.    Vol.  I,  Ldfe  Insurance.     Pp.  xi,  385. 

Vol.  II,  Fire  Insurance.     Pp.  xi,  332.     Price,  $1.50  each.     New  York:  The 

Macmillan  Company,  1917. 

Volume  I  is  a  revision  of  an  earlier  work  by  the  author  entitled  Principles  of 
Insurance,  while  Volume  II  is  an  entirely  new  work.  More  extended  reference  will 
therefore  be  made  to  the  latter. 

The  volume  on  life  insurance  is  on  the  whole  a  contribution  to  the  subject,  the 
various  topics  being  carefully  arranged  and  the  exposition  clear.    Some  criticism 


Book  Department  297 

might  be  made  of  the  elementary  treatment  of  certain  phases  of  the  subject  but  a 
text  is  not  supposed  to  equal  a  treatise  in  this  respect.  One  may  seriously  object, 
however,  to  the  issuance  of  a  revised  edition  which  does  not  follow  the  progress  in 
the  business  in  certain  directions.  Thus  in  the  chapter  on  Insurance  for  Wage- 
earners  the  author  discusses  compensation  laws  but  includes  in  his  list  of  the  same 
only  twenty-three.  One  is  at  a  loss  to  understand  why.  employers'  liability  in- 
surance is  discussed  in  the  chapter  on  Insurance  for  Wage-earners. 

The  volume  on  fire  insurance  appears  to  possess  certain  serious  defects  as 
well  as  commendable  features.  The  strongest  criticism  which  can  be  advanced, 
viewing  it  in  the  light  of  a  text,  is  its  seeming  lack  of  plan  and  arrangement  of 
chapters.  It  is  difficult  to  account  at  times  for  the  appearance  of  apparently 
closely  related  or  identical  topics  in  different  places,  the  subsequence  of  certain 
principles  whose  knowledge  is  prerequisite  for  other  subjects  and  the  brief  treat- 
ment accorded  particular  portions  of  the  study.  Some  explanation  is  also  required 
of  such  statements  as,  "local  associations  of  underwriters  have  little  actual  power 
over  rates  or  commissions"  (p.  69). 

This  second  volume  has,  however,  certain  distinctly  commendable  features. 
Prior  to  his  work  no  adequate  description  of  some  of  the  more  recent  develop- 
ments of  the  business  was  available.  He  has  therefore  rendered  a  service  in  pro- 
ducing a  relatively  up-to-date  textbook.  Secondly,  he  has  incorporated  to  a 
greater  degree  than  anj^  other  writer  a  discussion  of  fire  insurance  from  the  social 
viewpoint.  In  his  chapter  on  the  relation  of  the  state  to  insurance  he  has  discussed 
several  issues  which  are  now  and  in  the  near  future  will  be  very  important  in  the 
conduct  of  the  business. 

Robert  Riegel. 
University  of  Pennsylvania. 

Labor  Legislation 

Rhodes,  J.  E.,  2nd.     Workmeii's  Compensation.     Pp.  300.     Price,  $1.50.     New 
York:  The  Macmillan  Company,  1917. 

Workmen's  compensation,  in  the  space  of  a  few  years,  has  developed  from 
an  academic  theory  to  an  accepted  institution.  The  problem  is  no  longer  whether 
the  principle  shall  be  applied  but  to  what  degree  and  by  what  means. 

This  book  presents  a  careful  statement  of  the  background  and  fundamentals 
of  compensation  and  of  its  present  status  in  the  United  States  which  should  be 
useful  as  a  basis  for  more  detailed  study  or  for  a  general  survey  of  the  problem. 
The  author's  criticism  of  present  conditions  is  thoughtful  and  wall  offend  neither 
conservative  nor  radical.  Particularly  valuable  are  the  illustrative  cases  and 
the  brief  digest  of  the  essential  points  of  laws  now  in  foice. 

R.  H.  B. 

Webb,  Sidney,     The  Restoration  of  Trade  Union  Conditions.     Pp.  109.     Price, 

50  cents.     New  York:  B.  W.  Huebsch,  1917. 

Mr.  Webb  reminds  us  of  the  government's  promise  to  restore  union  conditions. 
He  recognizes  the  impossibility  of  going  back,  and  advocates  a  new  settlement 
with  the  unions  on  the  terms  which  will  be  fair  and  satisfactory  to  them. 


298  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

Since  Mr.  Webb's  booklet  was  published,  the  Reconstruction  Committee  of 
the  British  Cabinet  and  more  especially  the  ministry  of  munitions  have  taken  up 
the  problem  in  a  broad  and  progressive  spirit.  Some  employers  proposed  a  copart- 
nership form  of  management  which  will  admit  all  classes  of  workmen  to  a  direct 
interest  in  the  increase  of  output  and  will  seek  to  lessen  if  not  remove  the  sharp 
distinction  between  the  employer  and  the  workman.  These  proposals  which 
are  made  by  responsible  officials  and  employers,  if  worked  out,  would  present  a 
fairly  satisfactory  solution  of  the  problem  which  Mr.  Webb  discusses. 

J.  T.  Y. 

Merchandising:  Wholesale  and  Retail 

Cherington,  Paul  T.     The  Wool  Industry.     Pp.  xvi,  261.     Price,  $2.50.     Chi- 
cago: A.  W.  Shaw  Company,  1916. 

In  its  field  this  book  is  unique,  for  it  does  not  attempt  to  add  anything  to  the 
existing  large  body  of  excellent  material  covering  sheep  breeding,  wool  growing, 
the  relation  of  the  tariff  to  the  growth  of  these  industries,  or  the  technique  of 
textile  manufacturing,  but  instead  concentrates  upon  the  hitherto  unexplored 
territory  of  buying  and  selling  wool  products. 

After  setting  forth  the  essential  differences  between  woolen  and  worsted,  and 
explaining  the  history  of  these  two  branches  of  the  wool  industry,  the  author 
presents  his  real  contribution  to  the  Uterature  of  wool.  He  describes  in  detail  the 
function  and  importance  of  wool  merchants,  selUng  houses,  dry-goods  jobbing 
enterprises,  and  department  stores.  He  points  out  definitely  the  interrelations 
between  methods  of  marketing  and  selhng  problems  on  the  one  hand  and  wool 
growing  and  manufacturing  on  the  other.  Style  as  a  factor  in  making  and  selUng 
cloth  is  amply  demonstrated. 

If  one  were  searching  for  flaws  in  this  work  he  would  dwell  upon  the  illogical 
arrangement  of  chapters,  pointing  out  that  those  dealing  with  middlemen  are 
interrupted  by  other  chapters  treating  processes  and  sources  of  raw  materials. 
He  would  find  fault  also  that  too  many  important  facts  are  buried  in  footnotes 
and  not  incorporated  and  explained  in  the  text  itself.  He  might  complain  that 
too  many  of  the  facts  are  set  do^Ti  without  emphasis  upon  their  significance. 

The  majority  of  the  readers  of  this  book,  however,  will  welcome  it  as  a  piece 
of  fresh  evidence.  It  does  not  contain  materials  stolen  and  garbled  from  other 
writers.  Its  author  has  gone  to  original  sources  for  his  facts,  most  of  which  were 
gathered  from  men  in  the  trade  itself  and  have  never  before  appeared  in  print. 

Politicians  endeavoring  to  shape  a  tariff  pohcy  would  profit  by  studying  Dr. 
Cherington's  volume,  men  engaged  in  the  various  branches  of  the  wool  indus- 
try might  gain  a  perspective  from  it  that  they  may  otherwise  lack;  and  students 
of  economics  should  hail  it  as  valuable  material  for  their  deliberations. 

Malcolm  Keir. 
University  of  Pennsylvania. 


Book  Department  299 

Miscellaneous 

Davis,  Joseph  Stancliffe.  Essays  in  the  Early  History  of  American  Corpora- 
tions. 2  volumes.  Pp.  xiii,  547;  x,  419.  Price,  $2.50  each.  Cambridge: 
Harvard  University  Press,  1917. 

Four  essaj^s  comprise  these  two  vokimes,  each  essay  being  divided  into  sev- 
eral chapters.  Volume  I  discusses  Corporations  in  the  Arnerican  Colonies; 
William  Duer;  Entrepreneur,  1747-99;  and  The  Society  for  Establishing  Useful 
Manufactures,  the  first  New  Jersey  business  corporation. 

In  Volume  II,  which  deals  with  eighteenth  century  business  corporations  in 
the  United  States,  there  are  chapters  upon  Banking  Companies;  Corporations  for 
Improving  Inland  Navigation;  Toll-Bridge  and  Turnpike  Companies;  and  In- 
surance, Water  Supply,  Manufacturing  and  Miscellaneous  Corporations.  The 
appendices  contain  a  list  of  American  charters  granted  up  to  the  end  of  the  eight- 
eenth century.  There  is  a  full  bibliography,  topically  classified.  The  author 
has  done  his  work  well.  Although  the  preface  states  that  "a  well-rounded  treat- 
ment" of  the  history  of  American  corporations  is  impossible  because  of  "deficien- 
cies in  the  available  data,"  these  volumes  make  a  distinct  and  welcome  contribu- 
tion to  American  economic  history;  they  will  be  helpful  to  both  historian  and 
economist. 

E.  R.  J. 

Victor,  E.  A.  (Ed.   by).     Canada's   Future:  What   She   Offers   after    the   War. 
Pp.  XV,  320.     Price,  11.50.     New  York:  The  Macmillan  Company,  1916. 

Fifty-two  articles  by  eminent  Canadians  and  an  introduction  by  the  editor 
comprise  this  book.  The  majority  of  the  articles  deal  with  the  resources  and  pos- 
sibilities of  Canada.  The  grain  industry,  fisheries,  the  peat  bogs,  mines  and  min- 
ing, hvestock,  railway  systems,  manufactures,  insurance,  banking,  dairying, 
lumbering  and  agriculture  are  taken  up.  .  In  another  group  might  be  named  the 
educational  facihties,  the  work  of  the  church,  Canadian  clubs,  immigration, 
sports  and  pleasure,  conservation  of  resources,  art,  literature,  chemistry  and  the 
soil,  etc.  The  articles  in  these  groups  are  in  the  main  carefully  written  by  ex- 
perts. 

A  number  of  articles  by  leading  politicians,  with  a  few  exceptions,  do  not 
treat  their  topics  with  care.  The  Dominion  Labor  Minister  discusses  Labor 
Conditions  after  the  War  (p.  48)  in  a  page  and  a  half  of  platitudes.  Alberta's 
Future  (p.  248)  is  dealt  with  by  the  Premier  in  two  pages  of  florid  oratory.  Many 
of  the  articles  are  too  exclusively  descriptive  and  avoid  too  carefully  the  problem 
of  constructive  proposals  for  the  future;  for  example,  those  dealing  with  the  church 
and  education. 

The  book  should  prove  helpful  to  those  who  look  to  Canada  as  a  field  for 
investment  or  settlement. 

P.  R.  H. 


300  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

ECONOMICS 

Kirk,  Alice  Gitchell.     Practical  Food  Economy.     Pp.  v,  246.     Price,  $1.25. 
Boston:  Little,  Brown  and  Company,  1917. 

MacNutt,  J.  Scott.     The  Modern  Milk  Problem.     Pp.  xi,  258.     Price,  $2.00. 

New  York:  The  Macmillan  Company,  1917. 

This  is  another  one  of  the  recent  books  dealing  with  sanitary  phases  of  the 
milk  problem.  The  book  covers  practically  the  same  ground  as  is  covered  by 
The  City  Milk  Supply  by  H.  N.  Parker.  It  is  a  general  study  with  no  special  con- 
tribution. The  chapters  on  the  analysis  of  the  sanitary  aspects  of  the  milk  prob- 
lem are  well  done.  The  chapter  on  the  economic  factors  is  superficial  and  does 
not  even  cover  the  secondary  material  available  to  the  author.  There  is  some 
valuable  material  in  the  Appendix  on  milk  statistics,  grading  systems,  the  North 
system,  costs  and  prices,  and  mUk  products.  C.  L.  K. 

NouRSE,   Edwin   G.     Agricultural  Economics.     Pp.   xxv,    896.     Price,    $2.75. 

Chicago:  University  of  Chicago  Press,  1916. 

A  more  accurate  title  for  this  collection  of  valuable  contributions  would  be 
Source  Book  of  Agricultural  Economics,  since  the  author  does  not  attempt  to  pre- 
sent what  would  commonly  be  looked  upon  as  a  textbook  in  the  general  principles 
of  the  subject. 

The  book  covers  practically  the  whole  range  of  problems  in  agricultural 
economics,  sometimes  running  over  the  line  into  economic  history,  technical  or 
scientific  agriculture,  rural  sociology,  and  indeed  nearly  every  related  field. 

The  author  has  selected  from  an  extraordinarily  wide  range  of  original  docu- 
ments not  only  from  every  related  field  but  from  ancient  to  modern  times.  Some 
of  the  selections  are  from  authorities  of  -the  highest  standing  and  the  quotations 
are  standard,  while  others  are  selections  from  the  agricultural  press,  bulletins, 
etc.,  and  are  at  times  of  a  popular  nature.  J.  L.  C. 

Parker,  Horatio  M.     City  Milk    Supply.     Pp.  xi,  493.     Price,  $5.00.     New 

York:  McGraw-Hill  Book  Company,  1917. 

Formerly  Health  Officer  of  Montclair,  New  Jersey,  and  lately  Instructor  in 
Municipal  and  Sanitary  Dairying  at  the  University  of  lUinois,  the  author  has  had 
rare  opportunity  for  intensive  work  along  the  line  of  adequate  protection  of  the 
milk  supply  to  the  consumer.  The  book  on  these  points  may  be  regarded  as 
authoritative. 

The  book  is  not  entirely  satisfactory,  either  in  its  analysis  of  production 
costs  or  of  distribution  costs.  Possibly  this  analysis  is  not  to  be  expected  under 
such  a  title.  However,  the  author  has  undertaken  to  give  some  facts  as  to  dis- 
tribution costs  which  are  not  inclusive,  and  he  has  not  used  all  the  available  sources 
in  this  field.  But  as  to  other  topics  which  the  author  presumes  to  cover,  the 
book  is  most  inclusive  and  authoritative,  and  will  be  a  most  valuable  record  for 
all  those  interested  in  accurate  facts  as  to  sanitary  milk,  its  production,  trans- 
portation, and  inspection.  C.  L.  K. 


Book  Department  301 

POLITICAL  SCIENCE 

Goldsmith,  Robert.     A  League  to  Enforce  Peace.     Pp.  xxvi,  331.     Price,  $1.50. 

New  York:  The  Macmillan  Company,  1917. 

The  aim  of  this  book  is  twofold:  to  show  why  various  agencies  and  forces 
such  as  pacifism,  Christianity,  organized  labor,  diplomacy,  business,  etc.,  have 
failed  to  prevent  wars  in  the  past,  to  answer  the  objections  that  have  been  made 
against  the  proposed  League  to  Enforce  Peace  and  to  show  that  it  is  the  most 
practicable  remedy  yet  suggested  for  the  prevention  of  wars. 

To  the  chief  objection  that  the  joining  of  such  a  league  by  this  country  would  be 
contrary  to  our  traditional  policy  in  respect  to  European  alliances,  the  author 
replies  that  the  League  does  not  contemplate  an  alUance  in  the  older  and  more 
objectionable  sense  of  the  term  but  merely  a  policy  of  cooperation  for  the  preserva- 
tion of  the  peace  of  the  world.  The  United  States  has  attained  such  a  position 
of  influence  and  leadership  that  it  can  no  longer  pursue  a  policy  of  isolation  but 
must  become  a  partner  with  the  other  great  nations  in  maintaining  the  peace. 
If  nations  should  hesitate  to  introduce  reforms  until  they  become  certain  that 
the  reforms  would  be  effective  the  world's  progress  would  be  hindered  indefinitely. 
The  time  has  arrived  when  the  world  must  take  measures  to  prevent  if  possible 
the  recurrence  of  such  catastrophies  as  that  which  we  are  now  witnessing.  The 
League  to  Enforce  Peace  has  received  the  approval  of  many  statesmen  and 
leaders  of  practical  thought  in  all  countries.  Why  not  give  it  a  trial?  If  it  fails, 
no  harm  will  have  been  done;  if  it  succeeds,  the  world  will  have  achieved  its 
greatest  victory  in  the  fight  for  civilization. 

J.  W.  G. 

Sims,  Newell  L.     Ultimate  Democracy  and  Its  Making.     Pp.  347.     Price,  $1.50. 

Chicago:  A.  C.  McClurg  and  Company,  1917. 

Viewing  the  achievement  of  ultimate  democracy  as  a  process  of  persistent 
conflict  between  aggregations  of  forces,  the  author  appraises  the  contending  forces 
in  American  society  and  foresees  inevitable  victory  for  Demos.  But  the  demo- 
cratic triumph  requires  a  collective  purpose  in  government  to  effect  radical  changes 
in  existing  social  institutions  and  situations.  Socialization  of  wealth  initiated  by 
government  ownership  of  public  utilities,  public  regulation  of  big  business,  and 
taxation  to  equalize  wealth,  together  with  a  rigid  restriction  of  immigration,  will 
promote  the  production  of  economic  equality.  There  remains  natural  aristocracy, 
at  bottom  as  bad  as  any  other  aristocracy  and  a  barrier  to  the  realization  of  ulti- 
mate democracy.  "Inequality  of  conditions,  contrary  to  the  doctrines  of  some 
Socialists,  comes  not  primarily  and  ultimately  for  many  from  the  present  distri- 
bution of  wages  and  wealth,  but  from  aji  inequitable  distribution  of  talent." 
Eugenic  proposals  tend  to  raise  the  average  quality  of  the  stock  and  to  lessen  the 
deviation  therefrom.  Democracy  is  advanced  by  the  constantly  accumulating 
experience  in  democratic  government,  the  diffusion  of  the  democratic  idea,  the 
urbanization  of  society,  the  spirit  of  the  Scientific-Industrial  Age,  and  the  Uni- 
versal Peace  Movement.  The  Industrial  Age  by  stimulating  international  class- 
consciousness  sublimates  patriotism  and  aids  the  warfare  of  national  and  world 
democracy  against  militarism,  a  tripartite  tyranny  of  autocracy,  aristocracy  and 


302  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

plutocracy,  engaged  in  the  exploitation  of  humanity.  Professor  Sims  has  wTitten 
a  thoughtful  and  spirited  survey  of  significant  tendencies  and  aspirations  in 
American  democracy.  L.  P.  F. 

Thompson,  Carl  D.     Municipal  Ownership.     Pp.  xi,  114.     Price,  $1.00.     New 

York:  B.  W.  Huebsch,  1917. 

The  chief  contribution  in  this  work  is  an  adequate  presentation  of  proof  that 
regulation  of  public  utilities  is  a  complete  failure  and  that  private  ownership  of 
public  utilities  is  the  most  important  cause  of  corrupt  government. 

The  author  seems  to  err  in  the  importance  he  attaches  to  increasing  the 
wages  paid  to  employes  of  municipally-owned  public  utilities.  Fortunately,  how- 
ever, the  advantages  are  not  restricted  to  labor.  He  demonstrates  that  rates 
charged  under  municipal  ownership  succeeding  private  ownership  of  pubhc  utili- 
ties have  been  reduced  materially.  He  stresses  an  important  point  when  he  says: 
"Municipal  ownership  should  not  be  used  as  a  means  of  making  profit  in  order  to 
reduce  taxes."  Mr.  Thompson  errs,  too,  in  claiming  that  reducing  the  cost  of 
water,  gas,  street  car  fares,  and  he  adds,  "even  rents,"  will  reduce  the  cost  of 
living. 

He  sounds  a  soothing  note  to  the  present  owners  of  public  utilities  in  his  state- 
ment: "Only  those  who  are  operating  utilities  stand  to  lose  (under  municipal 
ownership)  .  .  .  and  this  will  be  only  a  temporary  loss  that  will  more  than 
be  made  up  to  them  we  verily  believe  in  the  vastly  greater  gains  of  the  common 
good."  It  is  impossible  to  agree  with  this  view,  and  unnecessary  in  order  to 
beheve  in  municipal  ownership  and  operation. 

The  most  serious  omission  is  the  failure  to  discuss  how  municipalities  are  to 
secure  the  funds  to  acquire  their  public  utilities. 


Benjamin  Marsh. 


New  York  City. 


SOCIOLOGY 


Abbott,   Grace.     The  Immigrant  and  the  Community.     Pp.  vii,   303.     Price, 

$1.50.     New  York:  The  Century  Company,  1917. 

The  author,  long  Director  of  the  Immigrants'  Protective  League  in  Chicago, 
has  had  intimate  contact  with  various  immigrant  groups  and  thus  writes  from 
personal  experience.  Many  have  given  us  labored  evidences  of  their  prejudices, 
others,  of  their  keen  emotional  bias.  Miss  Abbott  has  been  able  to  put  her  evi- 
dence into  readable  form,  to  appeal  to  our  common  humanity  and  yet  reveal  that 
she  is  not  blind  to  the  problems  involved. 

Beginning  with  the  journey  to  America  the  actual  experiences  of  the  incomers 
are  related.  Then  we  follow  them  through  the  mysteries  of  finding  employment, 
the  dangers  of  exploitation,  and  the  special  tribulations  of  the  immigrant  girls. 
Next  we  are  shown  the  immigrant's  relation  to  our  social  institutions,  courts, 
industries,  schools,  politics.  Everywhere  actual  cases  are  related  giving  a  note  of 
reality  to  the  account.  The  volume  closes  with  two  rather  unusual  chapters  on 
the  Immigrant  and  American  Internationalism,  and  the  Immigrant's  Place  in  a 
Social  Program. 


Book  Department  303 

The  volume  is  to  be  highly  commended  to  all  who  are  interested  in  immigra- 
tion, and  particularly  to  those  who  want  to  know  the  extent  of  our  own  failure 
to  safeguard  newcomers  and  help  in  their  readjustment  to  our  life. 

C.  K. 

BoGEN,  Boris  D.     Jeivish  Philanthropy.     Pp.  xvii,  391.     Price,  $2.00.     New 

York:  The  Macmillan  Company,  1917. 

The  author  states  in  his  preface  that  his  work  is  intended  to  serve  as  a  text- 
book for  beginners,  and  as  a  ready  resume  for  those  who  are  already  engaged  in  the 
field.  The  content  of  the  volume,  however,  reveals  a  most  thorough,  scholarly 
and  up-to-the-minute  study  of  Jewish  methods  of  relief. 

The  first  two  chapters  establish  very  clearly  and  fully  the  need  for  separate 
relief  agencies  bj'  the  Jews  for  the  Jews.  The  third  chapter  presents  in  remark- 
ably brief  compass  an  illuminating  history  of  charity  among  the  Jews  as  prac- 
ticed from  Bible  times  to  the  present. 

Beginning  with  chapter  four,  Dr.  Bogen  plunges  right  into  present-day  con- 
ditions with  a  description  of  the  national  organizations  formed  by  the  Jews  for 
relief  work.  A  strange  omission  here  is  his  failure  to  speak  of  the  work  done  by  the 
Union  of  American  Hebrew  Congregations,  though  in  a  later  chapter  he  refers 
briefly  to  its  department  of  Synagogue  and  School  Extension  activities.  The 
succeeding  chapters  deat  with  methods  of  fund-raising  for  Jewish  philanthropic 
agencies,  immigration,  distribution,  the  "back  to  the  soil"  movement,  resident- 
dependents,  dependent  women  and  children,  insufficiency  of  income,  a  somewhat 
long-drawn-out  investigation  of  the  educational  and  social  organizations,,  an  excel- 
lent presentation  of  the  subject  of  administration;  and  the  closing  section  briefly 
considers  the  connection  between  the  charity  federation  and  the  synagogue.  A 
bibliography  and  index  are  appended.  The  title  of  the  volume  strikes  one  as 
inept. 

Once  in  a  while  the  author  makes  a  sweeping  statement  without  citing  au- 
thorities. There  are  two  serious  drawbacks  to  the  usefulness  of  the  work.  One 
is  the  constant  use  of  Hebrew  words,  which  are  usually  not  translated  or  are 
mistranslated,  as  when  on  page  41  he  uses  the  word  "Kaddish"  and  in  paren- 
thesis has  the  word  "prayer."  It  is  doubtful  if  the  average  Jewish  student  who 
will  use  this  book  will  understand  the  many  Hebrew  words  that  are  in  it;  and 
of  course  the  non-Jewish  seeker  after  knowledge  will  be  exasperated.  Any  future 
work  of  this  character  should  have  a  glossary  of  such  Hebrew  words  as  part  of 
its  appendix.  The  other  is  the  chapter  on  Standards  of  Relief,  which  ought  to 
have  been  the  most  important,  received  the  most  scant  attention. 

But  all  in  all,  the  book  is  a  splendid  piece  of  work. 


Eli  Mayer. 


Philadelphia,  Pa. 


Ferri,  Enrico.     Criminal  Sociology.     (Translated  by  J.  I.  Kelly  and  John  Lisle, 
and  edited  by  W.  W.  Smithers.)     Pp.  xlv,  577.     Price,  $5.00.     Boston: 
Little,  Brown  and  Company,  1917. 
The  translation  of  Enrico  Ferri's  fifth  (and  latest)  French  edition  of  Criminal 

Sociology  is  the  best  contribution  to  the  American  Uterature  of  criminology  yet 


304  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

made  in  the  series  of  translations  of  the  American  Institute  of  Criminal  Law  and 
Criminology.  While  the  great  work-of  Caesare  Lombroso  in  the  field  of  Criminal 
Anthropology  laid  the  foundation,  to  the  present  writer  belongs  preeminently 
the  credit  for  the  founding  of  the  Positive  or  Italian  School  of  Criniinology.  Since 
1897  English  readers  have  had  access  to  Morrison's  abbreviated  translation  of  the 
original  work,  but  now  for  the  first  time  they  have  presented  to  them  the  complete 
work  revised  by  the  author  himself.  The  work  consists  first  of  a  defense  of  the 
theory  of  Positivism  applied  to  CriminaUty.  The  principle  of  causation  which 
has  revolutionized  natural  science  turning  alchemy  into  chemistry,  astrology  into 
astronomy,  etc.,  has  even  more  significant  effects  when  appUed  to  the  phenomena 
of  mind  and  of  social  hfe.  Then  follows  a  review  and  criticism  of  the  data  of 
criminal  anthropology.  While  the  author  holds  rigidly  to  the  value  of  anthro- 
pological factors,,  his  constant  insistence  upon  the  physical  or  telluric  and  the 
social  factors  makes  the  complete  interpretation  of  crime  thoroughgoing  and 
rational.  Those  who  so  ghbly  characterize  the  Itahan  School  as  the  anthropolog- 
ical school  and  criticize  it  for  its  one-sidedness  reveal  an  unfamiliarity  with  the 
doctrines  propounded  by  its  founder. 

Part  III  deals  with  the  positive  theory  of  penal  responsibility.  Here  the  old 
ethico-religious  theory  of  moral  responsibility  is  completely  discarded  for  that  of 
"social  accountability"  which  is  the  natural  outgrowth  of  the  modern  theory  of 
social  causation.  The  last  part  considers  practical  problems  and  shows  what 
light  the  modern  science  of  criminality  throws  upon  the  methods  of  dealing  with 
criminals  and  the  process  of  elimination  of  crime 

No  one  today  can  make  a  pretense  of  familiarity  with  the  modern  science  of 
criminology  who  has  not  read  this  work.  If  criticisms  are  to  be  made  of  the 
Italian  School,  they  should  be  made  on  the  basis  of  the  ideas  here  set  forth.  The 
American  Institute  has  rendered  a  great  service  to  Enghsh  civilization  by  the 
translation  of  this  book. 

J.    P.    LiCHTENBERGER. 

University  of  Pennsylvania. 

SiMKHOviTCH,  Mary  Kingsbury.     The  City  Worker's  World.     Pp.  235.     Price, 

$1.25  New  York:  The  Macmillan  Company,  1917. 

No  civic  leader  could  be  better  fitted  to  write  of  the  hfe  of  the  city  worker 
than  the  author,  who  has  lived  many  years  in  the  heart  of  a  great  industrial  sec- 
tion of  New  York  City,  as  the  moving  spirit  of  Greenwich  House.  Mrs.  Simkho- 
vitch  says  that  her  purpose  in  writing  the  book  is  to  furnish  "a  plain  description 
of  the  facts  of  the  city  dweller's  Hfe";  and  in  a  vivid  and  realistic  way  she  has 
deliniated  the  home  of  the  worker,  his  problems  of  health,  work,  and  recreation, 
and  the  maladjustments  in  family  hfe  due  to  poverty,  ignorance,  and  poorly 
regulated  industrial  conditions. 

But  the  book  is  more  than  description.  The  writer  analyzes  the  evolutionary 
process  going  on  in  the  city's  heart.  She  indicates  the  changes  that  have  taken 
place  in  the  social  environment  of  the  worker  and  portrays  the  new  home  and 
neighborhood  life  that  is  developing  as  a  consequence  of  those  changes.  The  old 
home  industries,,  the  old  kinds  of  pleasure,  even  the  old  forms  of  rehgion  have 
been  so  modified  that  few  of  their  original  values  remain;  and  with  them  have 


Book  Department  305 

passed  away  most  of  the  old  safeguards  of  family  life.  The  main  intent  of  the 
book  is  to  show  the  process  of  readjustment,  the  search  for  new  sanctions  and 
safeguards,  and  to  interpret  the  new  family  life  and  community  relationships  that 
are  emerging. 

Much  of  Mrs.  Simkhovitch's  own  philosophy  of  life, — especially  as  it  relates 
to  the  program  of  social  reform, — is  woven  through  the  pages  of  the  book;  again 
and  again  her  hatred  of  poverty  and  of  all  forms  of  social  injustice  is  revealed. 
With  deep  faith  in  democracy  she  refers  repeatedly  to  that  newly  discovered 
treasure  house,  the  potentiality  for  group  action  for  civic  betterment  that  is 
slowly  becoming  articulate  and  effective  in  the  industrial  neighborhood. 

The  author  has  made  conscious  effort  to  write  objectively  of  the  life  of  her 
neighbors.  There  is  no  direct  hint  of  the  splendid  work  that  she  and  her  settle- 
ment family  have  been  doing  to  develop  group  consciousness  and  independence 
among  the  neighbors.  The  book  will  be  of  special  value  to  the  increasing  number 
of  those  interested  in  the  exploration  of  the  new  paths  of  community  development 
already  being  trod  in  city  neighborhoods. 

Francis  Tyson. 
University  of  Pittsburgh. 

Smith,  Walter  R.     An  Introduction  to  Educational  Sociology.     Pp.  xvii,  412. 

Price,  $1.75.     New  York:  Houghton,  MifRin  Company,  1917. 

This  volume  marks  a  new  departure  in  educational  theory  and  practice. 
It  is  quite  inevitable  that  the  growing  discontent  in  the  field  of  education  should 
presently  assume  positive  and  constructive  form,  and  the  author  has  made  the 
first  conscious  venture  in  this  direction.  As  a  textbook  in  educational  sociology 
it  will  fill  a  much-needed  place  in  the  training  of  teachers  in  the  broader  aspects 
of  the  educational  problem.  Part  I  deals  with  the  application  of  the  general 
theory  of  sociology  to  education,  and  is  intended  to  establish  the  social  point  of 
view.  The  reader  is  invited  to  survey  the  educational  problem  from  the  point 
of  view  of  the  primary  social  groups,  such  as  the  family,  the  play  group,  the  com- 
munity, the  state  and  to  discover  in  this  way  the  need  for  a  democratized  educa- 
tion as  distinguished  from  the  individualistic  education  of  the  past.  Part  II  is 
an  attempt  to  make  the  applications  which  grow  from  such  a  survey  to  the  method 
and  content  of  education.  The  Social  and  Educational  Survey,  Social  Factors  in 
School  Administration,  the  Socialization  of  Discipline,  of  the  Program  of  Studies, 
Vocational  Aspects  of  a  Socialized  Education,  Vocational  Guidance,  Cultural 
Aspects  of  a  Socialized  Education,  are  among  the  subjects  considered. 

The  first  part  dealing  with  sociological  principles  will  hardly  prove  satisfactory 
to  many  sociologists  because  of  its  inadequacy  rather  than  because  of  any  inac- 
curacy, but  as  a  beginning  it  justifies  its  existence  and  will  no  doubt  point  the  way 
for  a  further  development  of  the  literature  in  this  fruitful  field.  It  ought  to  result 
in  the  organization  of  many  classes  in  normal  schools  and  colleges  for  teachers  and 
in  the  formation  of  teachers'  study  clubs.  For  such  purposes  it  will  serve  as  an 
admirable  introduction. 

J.    P.    LiCHTENBERGER. 

University  oj  Pennsylvania. 


INDEX 


Agricultural  credit,  importance,  220. 

Agricultural  Policy  for  the  United 
States  in  War  Time,  An.  Gifford 
Pinchot,    181-187. 

Agricultural  survey,  results,  222. 

Agriculture:  development,  46,  210; 
intensification,   285. 

Allies:  barley  export,  16;  barley  im- 
port, 16;  barley  production,  16;  men 
in  service,  230;  necessities,  231 
potato  export,  21;  potato  import,  21 
potato  production,  21 ;  rye  export,  13 
rye  import,  13;  rye  production,  13 
wheat  export,  9;  wheat  import,  9 
wheat  production,  9. 

Altoona,.food  survey,  282. 

America:  cooperation,  89-90;  Coopera- 
tive League,  279;  enemies,  148; 
women,  205. 

American  Food  Supply,  Switzer- 
land AND  THE.  WUUam  E.  Rap- 
pard,  66-74. 

Argentina,   agricultural  resources,   54. 

Army,  meat  consumption,  86. 

Atwater,  Helen  W.  A  Guide  to  the 
Nation's  Dietary  Needs,  108-118. 

Austria-Hungary,  wheat  production,  7. 

Barley:  export,  15-16;  food  value,  11; 
import,  15-16;  production,  15-16. 

Beans:  food  value,  19;  production,  19. 

Belgium:  cooperative  movement,  278; 
restoration  after  war,  40. 

Benson,  O.  H.  Accomplishments  of 
Boys'  and  Girls'  Clubs  in  Food 
Production  and  Conservation,  147- 
157. 

Bigelow,  a.  C.  The  Sheep  Industry 
of  the  United  States,  191-197. 

Bigelow,  W.  D.  The  Work  Con- 
ducted by  the  Commercial  Canners 
of  the  Country,  157-163. 

Bolivia:  exports,  54;  grazing  grounds, 
65. 


Boycotts,  results,  134-135. 

Boys,  work.  147-148,  151. 

Brand,  Charles  J.  Production  and 
Marketing  Plans  for  Next  Year,  164- 
181. 

Brazil,  exports,  54. 

Bread:  dietary  properties,  101;  prices, 
87. 

Brown,  Lucius  P.  Food  Conserva- 
tion in  New  York  City,  140-146. 

Bureau  of  Markets,  development,  139. 

Butter:  exports,  30;  imports,  31. 

Bye,  Ra^tviond  T.  and  Charles 
Reitell.  Food  Prices  vs.  Wage 
Increases,  235-256. 

Calderon,  Senor  Don  Ignacio. 
South  America's  Available  Food 
Supply,  53-56. 

California,  sheep,  192. 

Calory,  meaning,  106. 

Canned  goods:  demand,  161;  govern- 
ment needs,  161-162;  prejudice,  159; 
standards,  159. 

Canneries,  community,  203. 

Canners,  increased  acreage  for,  162. 

Canners,  The  Work  Conducted  by 
THE  Commercial,  of  the  Country. 
W.  D.  Bigelow,  157-163. 

Canning  clubs,  organization,  153-154. 

industry:  history,  158;  investiga- 
tions, 158;  labor  problem,  162-163. 

Capital:  definition,  273;  limitation,  273. 

Cattle:  purchase,  259^  sale,  259. 

Central  Powers:  barley  export,  16; 
barley  import,  16;  barley  production, 
16;  potato  export,  21;  potato  im- 
port, 21;  potato  production,  21;  rye 
export,  13;  rye  import,  13;  r3'e  pro- 
duction, 13;  wheat  deficit,  7;  wheat 
export,  9;  wheat  import,  9;  wheat 
production,  9. 

Cereals:  excess  profits,  231;  production, 
92,  167-169. 


306 


Index 


307 


Cigar  industry,  wage  changes,  253. 

Civil  War,  boys  in  service,  149. 

Coal:  excess  profits,  232-233;  exports 
committee,  34;  import  of  various 
countries,  72;  supply,  89. 

Colombia,  exports,  54. 

Commerce:  control,  261;  extension,  55; 
interstate,  258;  peaceful,  41;  regula- 
tion, 258;  restricting,  35;  state,  258; 
world,  94. 

COMMEKCIAL      CaNNERS,      THE      WORK 

Conducted  by  the,  of  the  Coun- 
try.    W.  D.  Bigelow,  157-163. 

Commercial  supremacy,  competition, 
182. 

Community,  industrial  welfare,  263. 

Competition:  economic,  39;  free,  243; 
international,  41;  law,  229-230; 
organization,  269. 

Congress:  powers,  257,  260. 

Conservation:  methods,  144;  principle, 
36. 

Consumers:  direct  marketing,  176; 
educating,  121;  powers,  243. 

Consumption,  increased,  286. 

Contraband  committee,  purpose,  34. 

Cooperation :  agricultural,  269;  benefits, 
279;  consumers,  270,  271,  275,  276; 
distinction  between,  269;  importance, 
270;  military,  88;  producers,  271; 
promotion,  278. 

Cooperation,  What,  can  do  and  is 
Doing  in  Lowering  Food  Costs. 
Peter  Hamilton,  268-280. 

Cooperative  societies:  formation,  277; 
organization,  138. 

Wholesale  Society,  274. 

Cooperators:  principle,  273;  savings, 
274. 

Corn:  clubs,  153;  crop.  111;  ex- 
portation, 12;  food  value,  11;  im- 
portation, 12;  production,  11-12, 
153,  164. 

Cotton,  imports  of  various  countries,  73. 

Credit  and  other  Production  Prob- 
lems, Lessons  in  Solving  Labor. 
A.  E.  Grantham,  210-223. 


Crops,  rotation,  219. 
Curb  markets,  establishment,  121. 
Cutler,    Burwell   S.     International 
Rationing,  34-42. 

Dairy  industry,  preservation,  101. 

Davies,  Joseph  E.  Price  Control, 
288-293. 

Dealers:  combination,  259;  coopera- 
tion, 144. 

Delaware,  agricultural  survey,  222. 

Delivery,  cost,  122. 

Demand,  excess,  230. 

Denmark:  cultivated  area,  46;  rural 
organization,  284. 

Diet:  essentials,  96;  mixed,  109. 

Diet,  Some  Essentials  to  a  Safe. 
E.  V.  McCoUum,  95-102. 

Dietaries,  family,  110. 

Dietary  Habits  and  Their  Improve- 
ment.    H.  R.  M.  Landis,  103-108. 

Dietary  Needs,  A  Guide  to  the 
Nation's.  Helen  W.  Atwater,  108- 
118. 

Dietary  studies:  methods,  114;  national 
importance,  115. 

Dietetics;  teaching,  108. 

Disease,  loss  from,  148. 

Distribution:  cost,  121;  economic,  206; 
power,  38;  retail,  145. 

Economic  action,  international  com- 
mittee, 35. 

Ecuador,  exports,   54. 

England:  price  control,  289;  regulation 
of  prices,  264;  scarcity  of  food,  275. 

Europe:  blunders,  150;  grain  produc- 
tion, 183;  reconstruction,  93. 

Exports:  embargo,  40;  restriction,  67. 

Administration  Board,  work,  36- 

37. 

Famine,  averting,  80. 

Farm,  labor,  218. 

Farmers:  cooperation,  222;  cooperative 
associations,  196;  credit,  211,  219- 
223;  duty,  207;  organizing,  207; 
problems,  120. 


308 


Index 


Fat,  production,  49. 

Federal  government,  jurisdiction,  256. 

Federal  Regulation  of  Prices  on 
Food  and  Fuels,  Constitutional- 
iTT  of.     Clifford  Thome,  256-268. 

Federal  Trade  Commission:  organiza- 
tion, 280-281 ;  work,  290. 

Finland,  cultivated  area,  46. 

Fish,  per  capita  consumption,  32. 

Food:  allotment,  35;  budgets,  129; 
composition,  104;  conservation,  122, 
132,  15C,  152-153;  consumption,  89, 
.  91,  110-111,  113,  117,  119;  control, 
106;  cooperative  centers,  156;  cus- 
toms, 112;  distribution,  124,  134- 
135,  138,  172,  281;  embargo,  44,  70; 
family  expenditure,  241;  good,  105; 
interest,  136;  laboratories,  128;  laws, 
89;  lowering  cost,  131;  marketing, 
207;  poisoning,  160-161 ;  preparation, 
106,  124,  126;  preservation,  157; 
prices,  267;  production,  6,  123,  138, 
150,  197,  207;  racial  characteristics, 
104;  requirements,  109,  110;  saving, 
127;  shortage,  5,  94;  speculation, 
124,  134,  135;  spoilage,  141;  Sweden's 
exports,  62;  transportation,  134, 
135,  138;  waste,  142-143. 

Food  and  Fuels,  Constitutionality 
of  Federal  Regulation  of  Prices 
on.     Clifford  Thorne,  256-268. 

Food  foe  France  and  its  Public 
Control.     Frangois  Monod,  84-91. 

Food,  The  Importance  of  Milk  as  A. 
W.  H.  Jordan,  188-190. 

Food  Administration:  demands,  126; 
policy,    199;   services,   284. 

Food  Conservation  in  New  York 
City.     Lucius  P.   Brown,   140-146. 

Food  Costs,  What  Cooperation  can 
DO  AND  is  Doing  in  Lowering. 
Peter  Hamilton,  268-280. 

Food  prices:  study;  236;  trend,  236- 
245. 

Food  Prices  vs.  Wage  Increases. 
Raymond  T.  Bye  and  Charles  Reitell, 
23&-256. 


Food  problem:  accomplishments  of 
women's  clubs,  134;  definition,  123; 
discussion,  43;  importance,  128,  133; 
world,  92. 

Food  Problem,  How  Japan  Meets 
ITS.     Viscount  Kikujiro  Ishii,  81-84. 

Food  Problem,  Some  Facts  to  be 
Considered  in  Connection  with 
THE.     Howard  Heinz,  119-123. 

Food  Problem,  the,  op  Great 
Britain;  The  Shipping  Problem 
OF  the  World.  Arthur  Pollen, 
91-94. 

Food  Problem,  the  Housekeeper 
AND  the.  Charlotte  Perkins  Gil- 
man,  123-130. 

Food  Problem,  the  Relation  of  the 
Housewife  to  the.  Nevada  Davis 
Hitchcock,  130-140. 

Food  Production  and  Conserva- 
tion, Accomplishments  of  Boys' 
and  Girls'  Clubs  in.  jO.  H. 
Benson,  147-157. 

Food  Production,  Urban  and  Sub- 
urban. Charles  Lathrop  Pack,  203- 
206. 

Food  Production  Act,  powers,  228. 

products:  conservation,  175;  stor- 
age, 175;  transportation,  175. 

situation,  public  control,  87. 

Food  Situation  of  Norway,  the. 
Fridtjof  Nansen,  44-53. 

Food  supplies:  conservation,  80;  in- 
formation, 174-175;  scarcity,  164; 
standardization,  208. 

Food  Supply,  South  America's  Avail- 
able. Senor  Don  Ignacio  Calderon, 
53-56. 

Food  Supply,  Sweden's.  Axel  Robert 
NordvaU,  57-65. 

Food  Supply,  Switzerland  and  the 
American.  William  E.  Rappard, 
66-74. 

Food  Supply,  the  World's.  G.  B. 
Roorbach,  1-33. 

Food  survey:  results,  112;  value,  112; 
work,  111. 


Index 


300 


Food  values:  charts,  95;  ignorance,  105; 
knowledge,  132. 

Foodstuffs:  biological  analysis,  98; 
condemnations,  141;  cost,  95;  dietary 
properties,  98;  exports,  3;  high  cost, 
99;  imports,  3;  international  trade 
3;  prices,  87;  production,  211; 
shortage,  210. 

France:  agricultural  labor,  85;  com- 
mittees, 35;  degeneracy,  69;  de- 
pendence, 90;  devastated  territory 
40;  livestock  resources,  86;  Uve- 
stock  shortage,  183;  price  control, 
289;  production  deficit,  85;  wheat 
production,  85-86. 

France,  Food  for,  and  its  Public 
Control.     Frangois  Monod,  84-91 

Freight  cars,  shortage,  286. 

Fruits:  canning,  204;  increased  use, 
117. 

Fuel,  prices,  267. 

Garden  clubs,   organization,    153-154. 
Germany:  autocracy,   71;  cooperative 

movement,  277-278;  efficiency,  69; 

food  consumption,  117;  foreign  trade, 

42;  isolation,  70;  price  control,  289. 
GiLMAN,    Charlotte    Perkins.     The 

Housekeeper  and  the  Food  Problem, 

123-130. 
Girls,  work,  147-148,  151. 
Government,    powers,    258,    260,    262, 

267. 
Government  Regulation  of  Prices, 

the  Necessity  for,  in  War  Time. 

Charles  R.  Van  Hise,  224-235. 
Grains:   food  value,   1;  storage,   169; 

world  production,  4;   world  supply, 

&-19. 
Grantham,  A.  E.     Lessons  in  Solving 

Labor,  Credit  and  Other  Production 

Problems,   210-223. 
Great  Britain:  cooperators,  275;  food 

consumption,  117;  food  import,  91; 

food  supply,  92;  foreign  trade,  42; 

imperialism  70;  products  controlled 

by,  37-38;  purchases,  37. 


Great  Britain,  the  Food  Problem 
of;  The  Shipping  Problem  of  the 
World.     Arthur  Pollen,  91-94. 

Hamilton,  Peter.  What  Coopera- 
tion Can  Do  and  Is  Doing  in  Lower- 
ing Food  Costs,  268-280. 

Heinz,  Howard.  Some  Facts  to  be 
Considered  in  Connection  with  the 
Food  Problem,   119-123. 

Hitchcock,  Nevada  Davis.  The  Re- 
'  lation  of  the  Housewife  to  the  Food 
Problem,  130-140. 

Holland:  fertilizer  import,  77;  free 
trade,  76;  intervention,  75;  neutral- 
ity, 74;  rye  import,  76;  taxation,  75; 
wheat  import,  76. 

Holland,  the  Case  for.  A.  G.  A. 
Van  Eelde,  74-78. 

Housekeeper,  the,  and  the  Food 
Problem.  Charlotte  Perldns  Gil- 
man,  123-130. 

Housewife:  instruction  in  homo  eco- 
nomics, 137;  limitations,  133;  re- 
sponsibiUty,  132-133;  work,  203. 

Housewife,  the  Relation  of  the, 
to  the  Food  Problem.  Nevada 
Davis  Hitchcock,  130-140. 

HtJBSCHER,  Carl  P.  Introductory, 
(The  Food  Situation  with  the  Neu- 
trals), 43-44. 

Incomes,  average  weekly,  254. 

Industrial  organziation:  basis,  282, 
services,  282. 

Industrial  Organization,  Price 
Control  Through.  J.  Russell 
Smith,  280-287. 

Insurance  rates,  regulation,  265-266. 

International  complications,  causes,  43. 

law:  principles,  56;  rule,  92. 

International  Rationing.  Burwell 
S.  Cutler,  34-42. 

Introductory.  (The  Food  Situa- 
tion with  the  Neutrals.)  Carl  P. 
Hiibscher,  43-44. 


310 


Index 


Introductory.  (Food  for  the  Allies.) 
Roland  S.  Morris,  79-80. 

Iron,  imports  of  various  countries,  72. 

IsHii,  Viscount  Kikujiro.  How- 
Japan  Meets  its  Food  Problem,  81- 
84. 

Italy,  embargo,  39. 

Japan:    conservation  of  resources,  81; 

cooperative    movement,    278;     cost 

of  living,  82;  export  trade,  83;  food 

problem,  81-82;    import  trade,  83; 

national  debt,  83;    population,  82; 

revenue,  83;    taxation,  83;    wealth, 

81. 
Japan    Meets    Its    Food    Problem, 

How.     Viscount  Kikujiro  Ishii,  81- 

84. 
Jordan,  W.  H.     The   Importance   of 

Milk  as  a  Food,  188-190. 

Labor:  boy,  216;  competition,  211; 
conscription,  218;  distribution,  212, 
217,  219;  exchange,  214;  farm, 
215-219;  international  division,  66; 
securing,  217;  shortage,  211-212; 
waste,  223,  285. 

Labor,  Credit  and  Other  Produc- 
tion Problems,  Lessons  in  Solv- 
ing.    A.  E.  Grantham,  210-223. 

Labor  unions:  reporting,  246;  wage 
data,  245-249. 

Landis,  H.  R.  M.  Dietary  Habits 
and  their  Improvement,  103-108. 

Livestock:  decrease,  166,  184;  in- 
spection, 260;  prices,  169;  pro- 
ducers, 186;  production  plans,  169- 
171;  shortage,  182. 

London,  committees,  34-35. 

McCoLLUM,    E.    V.     Some   Essentials 

to  a  Safe  Diet,  95-102. 
Malnutrition,  types,  98. 
Manufacture,  regulation,  258. 
Market  news  services,  extension,  172. 

organizations,  rural,  287. 

service,  city,  175-176. 


Marketing:  direct,  176;  licensing, 
179-180;  methods,  121,  154;  plans, 
178-181. 

Marketing,  the  Point  of  Origin 
Plan  for.     A.  B.  Ross,  206-210. 

Marketing  Plans,  Production  and, 
for  Next  Year.  Charles  J.  Brand, 
164-181. 

Markets:  curb,  138;  information,  286; 
inspection  service,  177;  supply,  286. 

Maryland,  labor  problem,  217. 

Massachusetts,  agricultural  credit,  220- 
221. 

Meats:  excess  profits,  231-232;  ex- 
port, 28;  food  value,  1,  25;  import, 
28;  per  capita  consumption,  26; 
prices,  87,  284,  285;  production, 
28;  shortage,  119;  supply,  55. 

Metals,'  excess  profits,  232. 

Milk;  consumption,  95;  cost  of  dis- 
tribution, 189;  cost  of  production, 
189;  food  energy,  189;  food  value, 
32,  188,  189;  importance,  96;  price, 
95,  101-102,  120,  189;  production, 
170. 

Milk,  the  Importance  of,  as  a  Food. 
W.  H.  Jordan,  188-190. 

Monod,  Francois.  Food  for  France 
and  its  Public  Control,  84-91. 

Monopoly:  prevention,  263;  results, 
268. 

Morris,  Roland  S.  Introductory, 
(Food  for  the  Allies),  79-80. 

Nansen,  Fridtjof.  The  Food  Sit- 
uation of  Norway,  44-53. 

Nation's  Dietary  Needs,  a  Guide 
TO  THE.  Helen  W.  Atwater,  108- 
118. 

Neutrals:  barley  export,  16;  barley 
import,  16;  barley  production,  16; 
potato  export,  21 ;  potato  import,  21 ; 
potato  production,  21;  rye  export, 
13;  rye  import,  13;  rye  production, 
13;  wheat  export,  9;  wheat  import, 
9;  wheat  production,  9. 

New  Jersey,  labor  problem,  215, 


Index 


311 


New  York:  Food  and  Drugs  Bureau, 
140;  food  consumption,  141;  State 
Food  Supply  Commission,  222. 

New  York  City,  Food  Conserva- 
tion IN.  Lucius  P.  Brown,  140- 
146. 

NoRDVALL,  Axel  Robert.  Sweden's 
Food  Supply,  57-65. 

Norway:  agriculture,  45;  emigration, 
44;  exports,  52;  fat  consumption, 
48-^9;  fat  imports,  50;  fat  pro- 
duction, 49;  fish  exports,  45,  51; 
fisheries,  45;  grain  export,  48; 
grain  import,  46-47;  grain  pro- 
duction, 46-47;  imports,  51-52; 
industrial  exports,  51 ;  lumber  trade, 
45;  manufacturing,  45;  population, 
44,  49;  protein  production,  50; 
shipping,  45,  51-52. 

Norway,  the  Food  Situation  of. 
P'ridtjof  Nansen,  44-53. 

Nutrition,  problems,  101. 

Ohio:  labor  needs,  213;  sheep,  192. 

Pack,  Charles  Lathrop.  Urban 
and  Suburban  Food  Production, 
203-206. 

Packing  plants,  standardization,  285. 

Paraguay,  grazing  ground,  54-55. 

Payrolls,  study,  245,  249-252. 

Peace,  obstacle,  71. 

Peru,  exports,  54. 

Petroleum,  excess  profits,  232. 

Philadelphia:  chain  stores,  243;  food 
prices,  238;  retail  prices,  244; 
union  workere,  248;  wage-earners, 
250;  wages,  238;  Wool  and  Textile 
Association,  195. 

PiNCHOT,  GiFFORD.  An  Agricultural 
Policy  for  the  United  States  in 
War  Time,  181-187. 

Pollen,  Arthur.  The  Food  Prob- 
lem of  Great  Britain;  the  Shipping 
Problem  of  the  World,  91-94. 

Potato  Industry,  The  War  and  Our. 
Lou  D.  Sweet,  197-202. 


Potatoes:  crop,  197-198;  dehydration, 
200;  distributors,  199;  export,  18- 
19;  food  value,  19,  60;  grading, 
202;  import,  18-19;  imports  of 
various  countries,  72;  prices,  240- 
242;  production,  20-21;  shippers, 
200;  storing,  199;  utilizing,  157; 
world  production,  4. 

Price  Control.  Joseph  E.  Davies, 
288-293. 

Price  Control  Through  Industrial 
Organization.  J.  RusseU  Smith, 
280-287. 

Prices:  advancing,  224;  causes  of 
high,  268;  causes  of  rising,  228-229; 
control,  234,  281,  290;  effect,  290; 
exorbitant,  271;  fixing,  289,  291; 
fluctuation,  252;  increase,  288; 
meat,  239;  reasonable  level,  276; 
regulation,  262-263,  281;  retail, 
226,  244;  wholesale,  225,  274. 

Prices,  Constitutionality  of  Fed- 
eral Regulation  of,  on  Food  and 
Fuels.     Clifford    Thome,  25&-268. 

Prices,  The  Necessity  for  Govern- 
ment Regulation  op,  in  War 
Time.    Charles  R.  Van  Hise,  224-235. 

Producers,  cooperative  methods,  187. 

Production:  cost,  290;  curtailment, 
291;  encouragement,  120;  increased, 
156,  177,  230,  288;  methods,  154; 
plans,  167-168;  problems,  211; 
purchase,  291. 

Production  and  Marketing  Plans 
FOR  Next  Year.     Charles  J.  Brand, 

164r-181. 

Production  Problems,  Lessons  in 
Solving  Labor,  Credit  and  Other. 
A.  E.  Grantham,  210-223. 

Profits:  control,  121;  excess, 231-234. 

PubUc,  prices,  293. 

Purchasers,  cooperation,  230. 

Purchases:   poohng,  272,  273. 

Rappard,  William  E.  Switzerland 
and  the  American  Food  Supply, 
66-74.    . 


312 


Index 


Rationing,    International.    Burwell 

S.  Cutler,  34-42. 
Reitell,  Charles  and  Raymo.vd  T. 

Bye.     Food    Prices    vs.    Wage    In- 
creases, 235-256. 
Rice:     export,    18,    54;     import,    18; 

production,  17-18. 
Rochdale  Pioneers:    experiences,  271; 

rules,  272. 
RooRBACH,  G.  B.     The  World's  Food 

Supply,  1-33. 
Ross,  A.  B.     The  Point  of  Origin  Plan 

for  Marketing,  206-210. 
Roumania,  wheat  production,  7. 
Russia,  wheat  production,  7. 
Rye:   exportation,  13-14;    food  value, 

11;  importation,  13-14;  production, 

13-14. 

Salaried  men,  incomes,  252. 

Seed,  dietary  deficiencies,  99. 

Sheep:     breeding,    196;     decrease    in 

number,  194;   industry,  193;  losses, 

185;    protection  against  dogs,   195; 

value,  196. 
Sheep    Industry    of    the     United 

States,  The.     A.  C.  Bigelow,  191- 

197. 
Shipment,  facihties,  284. 
Shipping:     demand,    93;     difficulties, 

146;  ministry,  34;  problem,  92. 
Shipping   Problem   of  the   World, 

The;  The  Food  Problem  of  Great 

Britain.     Arthur  Pollen,  91-94. 
Ships,  need,  93. 
Smith,    .1.     Russell.     Price    Control 

through      Industrial     Organization, 

280-287. 
Sociahsts,  theory,  273. 
South  America,  imports,  55. 
South    America's    Available    Food 

Supply.     Scnor  Don  Ignacio  Cald- 

eron,  53-56. 
Standardization:  purposes,  208 ;  value, 

177-178. 
Standardizing  plant:    equipment,   209; 

location.  209. 


Strikes,  success,  249. 

Submarine  warfare,  brutahty,  93. 

Sugar:  distribution,  292;  export,  23- 
24;  import,  23-24;  production, 
22-24. 

Supply  and  demand,  law,  229-230. 

Sweden:  agriculture,  57;  beet  sugar 
production,  61;  bread  ration,  59; 
butter  export,  64;  cattle  export,  63; 
cultivated  area,  46;  exports  to 
Germany,  62;  fodder  production, 
61;  food  exports  in  war  time,  62-65; 
grain  shortage,  60;  manufacturing, 
57;  rye  production,  58;  sugar  ra- 
tions, 61;  wheat  importation,  58; 
wheat  production,  58. 

Sweden's  Food  Supply.  Axel  Rob- 
ert Nordvali,  57-65. 

Sweet,  Lou  D.  The  War  and  Our 
Potato  Industry,  197-202. 

Switzerland:  cooperative  movement, 
278;  cultivated  area,  46;  depend- 
ence, 67;  economic  dependence, 
72;  economic  situation,  66;  grain 
export,  73;  imports,  74;  internal 
peace,  69;  neutrahty,  69;  political 
situation,  68-70;  potato  import, 
70;  priiiciples,  68;  sympathies,  70; 
wheat  import,  66. 

Switzerland  and  the  American 
Food  Supply.  William  E.  Rap- 
pard,  66-74. 

Taxation,  validity,  259. 

Texas,  sheep,  192. 

Thorne,  Clifford.     Constitutionality 

of  Federal  Regulation  of  Prices  on 

Food  and  Fuels,  256-268. 
Tin:     conservation,     158;       shortage, 

163. 
Trade,  restraint,  259. 
Transportation:     excess    profits,    233; 

situation,  206-207. 
Trolley  freight,  development,  140. 

Union  workers:  conditions  prevailing 
among,  248-249;  wages,  248. 


Index 


313 


United  States:  average  diet,  165; 
conservation  plan,  36;  cooperative 
movement,  279;  com  crop,  11,  185; 
decrease  in  sheep,  191;  development 
of  sheep  industry,  191;  diet,  116; 
economic  independence,  39;  eco- 
nomic problems,  197;  efficiency,  182; 
exportation  of  raw  materials,  39; 
exports,  40;  food  army,  152;  food 
consmnption,  111;  food  gardens, 
203;  food  importations,  3;  food 
packed,  163;  importation  of  raw 
materials,  39-40;  meat  export,  166; 
meat  importation,  27;  milk  con- 
sumption, 111;  population,  82; 
production  plans,  167-171;  prospec- 
tive wheat  crop,  168;  rationing  plan, 
36;  resources,  81;  rice  production, 
19;  wheat  production,  183;  wool 
clip,  193. 

United  States,  An  Agricultural 
Policy  for  'I'HE,  in  War  Time  .  Gif- 
ford  Pinchot,  181-187. 

United  States,  The  Sheep  Industry 
OF  the.     a.  C.  Bigelow,  191-197. 

Uruguay,  meat  supply,  54. 

Van  Eelde,  A.  G.  A.  The  Case  for 
HoUand,  74-78. 

Van  Hise,  Charles  R.  The  Neces- 
sity for  Government  Regulation  of 
Prices  in  War  Time,  224-235. 

Vegetables:  canning,  204;  dehydra- 
tion, 146;  importance  of  green,  96; 
increased  use,  117;  production,  284. 

Venezuela,  exports,  54. 

Vermont,  sheep,  192. 

Wage-earners,  weekly  incomes,  250-251. 
Wage   Increases,   Food   Prices  vs. 

Raymond     T.     Bye     and     Charles 

Reitell,  235-256. 


Wage  studies:  number  made,  249; 
pmpose,  245. 

Wages:  advance,  227;  average  weekly, 
254;  changes,  246-247;  increases, 
250;  irregularity,  252-254;  real, 
255;  trend, 245-256. 

War:  cause,  268;  marketing  crops, 
171-172. 

War,  The,  and  Our  Potato  In- 
dustry.    Lou  D.  Sweet,  197-202. 

War  Time,  An  Agricultural  Policy 
FOR  the  United  States  in.  Gif- 
ford  Pinchot,  181-187. 

War    Time,     The     Necessity    for 

Government  Reguxation  of  Prices 

in.     Charles  R.  Van  Hise,  224-235. 

War  trade  department,  work,  34. 

intelligence  department,d  uty, 


34. 


-statistical  department,  work, 


34. 


Waste:  avoidance,  122;  elimination, 
270;  household,  117. 

Wheat:  exportation  in  various  coun- 
tries, 8-9;  importation  in  various 
countries,  8-9,  73;  prices,  87;  pro- 
duction in  various  countries,  6-9; 
shortage,  120, 166-167. 

Wood:  exportation,  233;  increased 
prices,  233:  production,  233. 

Wool:  marketing  facilities,  196;  short- 
age, 170. 

World:  barley  export,  16;  barley 
import,  16;  barley  production,  16; 
economic  alliance,  40;  food,  4-6; 
potato  export,  21;  potato  import, 
21;  potato  production,  21;  rye 
export,  13;  rye  import,  13;  rye 
production,  13;  wheat  export,  9; 
wheat  import,  9;  wheat  produc- 
tion, 9. 

World's  Food  Supply,  The.  G.  B. 
Roorbach,  1-33. 


SOME  COMMENTS  REGARDING  THE  SEPTEMBER, 
1917,  ISSUE  OF  THE  ANNALS  ON 

Justice  Through  Simplified  Legal  Procedure 

"This  is  a  most  valuable  contribution  to  the  discussion  and  elucidation  of  the 
subject  of  Simplifying  Judicial  Procedure: — a  subject  which  today  is  commanding, 
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VIRGINIA  LAW  REGISTER. 

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In  addition  to  the  September,  1917,  issue  of  THE 
ANNALS  on  Justice  Through  Simplified  Legal  Proce- 
dure, the  American  Acetdemy  has  recently  published 
other  volumes  on  the  following  timely  questions : 

Modern  Insurance  Problems  (March,  1917) 

Stabilizing  Industrial  Employment  (May,  1917) 

America's  Relation  to  the  World  Conflict  and 
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Next  Steps  in  Railroad  Regulation  (March,  1918) 

These  vohuues  will  he  ready  for  distribution  on  the  tenth  of 
January  and  March  respeetively. 


The  American  Academy 

OF 

Political  and  Social  Science 


Philadelphia 


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University  of  Pennsylvania  University  of  Cmcinnati 

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University  of  California 

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Federal  Reserve  Bank,  Philadelphia 


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University  of  Pennsylvania 


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RT.  HON.  ARTHUR  J.  BALFOUR,  M.  P. 

London,  England 
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Washington,  D.  C. 


THE  ANNALS 

OF  THE 

AMERICAN  ACADEMY  OF  POLITICAL  AND  SOCIAL  SCIENCE 

Editor:  CLYDE   LYNDON  KING 

Assistant  Editor:  E.  M.  PATTERSON 

Associate  Editor:  JOSEPH  H.  WULLITS 

Editor  Book  Dept.:  C.  H.  CRENNAN 

Editorial  Council:  J.  C.  BALLAGH,  THOMAS  CONWAY,  Jr.,  C.  H.  CRENNAN, 

^"^S      s      mlEBNER,     CARL     KELSEY,     CLYDE     LYNDON     KING, 

T  P  LICHTENBERGER,  ROSWELLC.McCREA,  SCOTT  NEARING, 

E  M.  PATTERSON,  T.  W.  VAN  METRE,  F.  D.  WATSON, 

JOSEPH  H.  WILLITS 


YD  22768 


—  ^j*5' 


